Sq. Enix Triples Down on Blockchain With New Deal Whilst Different Publishers Flee

Whereas many gaming corporations largely bought the trace final yr that players aren’t eager on blockchain, NFTs, and all that web3 entails, Sq. Enix would not appear to have absorbed the message but. And it is demonstrating this right now through a partnership with web3 gaming platform Elixir, with the intent of “producing visibility and adoption of web3 video games amongst conventional players.”

The official announcement is mild on particulars as to what, precisely, these two corporations will likely be doing collectively, calling this a “strategic partnership” meant to “drive mass adoption [of web3 gaming] throughout 2023.” Elixir itself is a PC video games distribution platform that places web3 video games and common video games side-by-side, with little to differentiate between them.

Notably, earlier this yr Elixir built-in the Epic Video games Retailer to permit customers to play any sport of their Epic library “next to your fav web3 games“. Principally, the concept appears to be that if it stuffs sufficient non-web3 video games subsequent to web3 video games, gamers will not have the ability to inform the distinction and can get actually, actually into web3 gaming.

Sq. Enix digs in its heels

Given its latest actions, it is unsurprising that Sq. Enix is digging its heels in on this. In the beginning of the yr, then-president Yosuke Matsuda stated that the corporate’s imaginative and prescient for 2023 included “aggressive funding” into blockchain expertise and NFTs. Whereas Matsuda himself stepped down final month, his imaginative and prescient seems to have remained intact, as demonstrated by a latest set of Remaining Fantasy 7 NFT buying and selling playing cards. It is an ironic selection given the themes at play in Remaining Fantasy 7, however that did not trouble Sq. Enix final yr both when it made a Cloud Strife motion determine that was additionally an NFT.

Web3, blockchain, and NFTs have remained deeply controversial in gaming, although enthusiastic help from main gaming corporations has cooled considerably after a number of studios and publishers confronted intense criticism for suggesting they had been utilizing the expertise. Valve has banned the expertise on Steam outright, noting its overwhelming use for scams, as has itch.io. And a handful of studios signed an anti-NFT pledge final yr arrange by Local weather Replay in a dedication to keep away from the intense, ongoing points concerned with blockchain techniques, which demand huge quantities of power to run and may trigger severe environmental hurt.

Rebekah Valentine is a information reporter for IGN. You’ll find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

This text has been up to date to extra precisely confer with Elixir and Epic Video games’ relationship as an “integration” relatively than a “partnership.”