The Annual Report from Square Enix for shareholders released earlier today, and company president Yosuke Matsuda had a lot to say about blockchain gaming. Square Enix has previously expressed interest in the technology for gaming, but it has now become a “most important focus” as an investment area for the company.
The future business strategy section concludes with a discussion of blockchain gaming and its role in the future of Square Enix. Matsuda says that as an investment area, they are “positioning the blockchain domain as our most important focus,” calling blockchain gaming “decentralised gaming”. He justifies the pursuit of the technology with the potential for “new types of games produced unlike any anyone has ever seen before.”
He acknowledges that “some view the very concept of blockchain gaming with suspicion”, but “I believe that blockchain gaming holds the potential to create new forms of gaming content, and that it represents a new business domain worth our Group addressing alongside traditional games.” Square Enix are yet to fully dive into blockchain gaming, but this update reaffirms that it will be coming eventually.
Despite their determination to make blockchain gaming the next big thing, Square Enix is heading into dangerous waters. Blockchain markets are heavily dependant on others for their value, and whilst they can explode like Bitcoin, they can also crash like NFTs. The technology could certainly produce games “unlike anyone has seen before”, but whether they will have audiences interested is another question entirely.
Blockchain gaming is only part of Square Enix’s shifting business interests. As we share in another article, the Annual Report also discusses Square Enix’s move away from an ageing domestic market and towards a global one. When Square Enix is focusing on making regular good quality games, they actually sell quite well – as our break down of today’s new sales figures shows.
How do you feel about this financial update? Do you want to try Square Enix’s blockchain games? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news.
