FF7 Cloud Action Figure Proves Square Enix Is Really Shinra
In a move that pleases almost no one, Square Enix is partnering with NFT company Enjin to package digital NFT collectibles along with physical action figures to “celebrate” the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy 7. This continues the trend of gaming companies picking the most inappropriate pairings for NFT products possible. For example, Sega previously announced Sonic the Hedgehog-related NFTs, a franchise that has a strong environmentalist message as Sonic battled Dr. Robotnic to protect flora and fauna from the mad scientist. The initial conflict of Final Fantasy 7 pitted the heroic resistance group Avalanche against the Shinra Corporation, a company that tapped into the very lifeblood of the Planet to power their Mako reactors. Seeing a game with such a message being used in tandem with environmentally destructive NFT production sends a particularly bad message to fans about the developer.
It is well established that whether they are associated with digital art or video games, NFTs are bad for the environment, as the process of generating blockchain-based authentication for a file consumes absurd amounts of power. Where Shinra was at least damaging the planet to run a power grid for a city, Square Enix is now doing the same for the confusing profit of NFTs. This makes the modern Square Enix closer to Shinra than ever, illustrating that the real message of Final Fantasy 7 has nothing to do with environmentalism, and everything to do with establishing a popular IP and squeezing every possible bit of profit from it, regardless of the costs to our real-world planet.
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NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, use the same blockchain technology leveraged by
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