Square Enix believes recent blockchain volatility can benefit its game plans
Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix has again used its New Year letter to promote its “aggressive” investment into blockchain games, claiming that recent volatility in the market could ultimately benefit its plans.
Square Enix was one of the first major publishers to declare support for “blockchain entertainment”, which uses a form of digital ledger to effectively allow users to own, buy and sell digital items.
In its New Year letter last year the company committed to making blockchain and NFT games. Later in 2022, it announced plans to sell NFTs as part of what it calls the “first digital collectible art project designed from the ground up for Web3 fans”.
In a new letter discussing its plans for 2023, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda has now said blockchain remains the biggest focus for its medium-term investments, despite what he called “volatility” in the blockchain space in 2022.
Matsuda argued that lessons learned and likely regulation to come could benefit the growth of the blockchain field and its plans to develop games based on the technology.
“In terms of new business domains, we named three focus investment fields under our medium-term business plan,” the exec wrote. “Among those, we are most focused on blockchain entertainment, to which we have devoted aggressive investment and business development efforts.
“Looking externally, I think it is fair to say that blockchain gained significant recognition as a field in 2022, as evidenced by ‘Web 3.0’ becoming a firmly established buzzword among businesspeople.
“However, the year also saw volatility in the cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) markets that tracked the dramatic shifts in the macroeconomy described above. The latter half of the year in particular
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