Gaming Companies Increasingly Open to NFTs
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Adoption of blockchain technology, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), continues to accelerate as more and more gaming companies explore ways to implement the popular technology.
In a recent letter to the public, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda announced the gaming company’s shift in focus towards artificial intelligence, cloud services, and blockchain technology. Part of the reasoning behind such a directional shift in the company’s research and development teams is the recognition of the impact of the metaverse and NFTs.
Matsuda stated that, “I see 2021 not only as Metaverse: Year One, but also as NFTs: Year One, given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base.”
He also added that while, “we do observe examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods.”
Square Enix is not alone in their shift in focus towards NFTs and blockchain gaming. Aleph.im, a company focused on Web3 and decentralized finance (DeFi) application development has announced a partnership with French gaming giant Ubisoft to “bring playable NFTs to AAA games for the first time.” Part of Ubisoft’s efforts to implement the tokenization of digital items can be found in Ubisoft Quartz, which “aims to give players more autonomy and agency when interacting with in-game items.”
Even Electronic Arts (EA) is recognizing the potential impact of blockchain technology in gaming. EA CEO Andrew Wilson stated during an earnings call in November 2021 that “NFT and play to earn games are the future of our industry,” but added that “it’s still early to figure out how that’s going to work.”
While more and more companies seemingly scramble to take advantage of the innovative technology, Wilson highlights the fact that it is still very early and any assertions of how NFTs and blockchain technology will or will not impact the gaming industry will have to wait for time to pass.