Square Enix Triples Down on Blockchain With New Deal Even as Other Publishers Flee
Last year, many game companies got hints that gamers weren’t keen on blockchain, NFTs, and everything that comes with web3, but Square Enix seems to have yet to absorb the message. We are demonstrating this through our partnership with web3 gaming platform Elixir, with the goal of “facilitating the visibility and adoption of web3 games among traditional gamers.”
The official announcement didn’t provide any details on what exactly the two companies will do, calling it a “strategic partnership” aimed at facilitating mass adoption. [of web3 gaming] Elixir itself is a PC game distribution platform that puts web3 games and regular games side by side, with little distinction between them.
Notably, Elixir partnered with Epic Games earlier this year to allow users to play any game in the Epic library.”next to your favorite web3 gamesBasically, the idea seems to be that if you cram enough non-web3 games next to web3 games, players won’t be able to tell the difference and will be really, really hooked on web3 games.
Square Enix follows suit
Given their recent activity, it’s no surprise that Square Enix is stepping into this. Company vision for 2023 It included “aggressive investments” in blockchain technology and NFTs. Matsuda himself stepped down last month, but his vision seems to have stayed put, as a recent set of Final Fantasy 7 NFT trading cards shows. When Enix made a Cloud Strife action figure that was also an NFT last year, they didn’t care either.
Web3, blockchain, and NFTs remain highly controversial in the gaming industry, but after facing heavy criticism for suggesting that multiple studios and publishers are using the technology, major Enthusiastic support from game companies has cooled significantly. Valve has banned this technology entirely on Steam, noting that it is used overwhelmingly for scams similar to itch.io. A handful of studios also signed an anti-NFT pledge set by Climate Replay last year, pledging to avert serious and ongoing problems related to blockchain systems.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. you can find her on her twitter @duck valentine.
