Yosuke Matsuda, the president of Square Enix, the game company behind iconic franchises such as Final Fantasy, has revealed future demonstrations to utilize new blockchain technologies in his plans for 2022.
In his new year’s letter, Matsuda seems enthusiastic about the concept of Metaverse, acknowledging that 2021 was dubbed the year of Metaverse. He explains that new blockchain technologies such as NFTs and Metaverse shall see a meaningful transition to a business phase in 2022.
In his words, 2021 was not just the year of the Metaverse, but also “NFTs: Year One”, considering the extraordinary attention NFTs have got in the past year.
As a result of this, the SQUARE ENIX AI & ARTS Alchemy Co., Ltd. (“AI & AA”) shall be conducting aggressive and extensive R&D., especially in the areas of blockchain technologies, blockchain gaming as well as artificial intelligence.
When it comes to gaming, Matsuda has his vision sorted. He made a distinction between the traditional approach to gaming, which in his words is “play-for-fun”, and the new blockchain gaming which he calls “play-to-earn” or P2E. Unlike centralized gaming, wherein the data flows in a single direction – creator to consumer – decentralized gaming allows third-party modders to change and modify games.
In simpler terms, decentralized gaming would help modders and third-party developers to modify and improve games, and they would earn by doing so. The reservations of play-for-fun people against these new trends are addressed, as they are in the majority right now. But Matsuda is optimistic that there would be a “Play-to-contribute” group of people which would help make games more exciting.
