"Aggressive investment" in blockchain games by Final Fantasy creator

According to a letter from Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda dated January 1, the company plans to increase its focus on blockchain game development despite the volatility in the cryptocurrency market. Square Enix is responsible for creating the Final Fantasy series. The letter, titled “A New Year's Letter from the President,” was to discuss the company's achievements in 2022 and its goals for the coming year. Seven of the fifteen paragraphs dealt with blockchain gaming, indicating that this sector will be a primary focus for the company's future investments.

According to Matsuda, “blockchain entertainment” is where his team will put most of their “aggressive investment and business development efforts” over the next few years. After reviewing the crypto market's 2021 and 2022 highs and lows, Matsuda looked for patterns in the market's steep decline in 2022. He remarked that while new technologies may initially cause “confusion,” they are eventually incorporated into society without much resistance. So, he said, even if the cryptocurrency market is volatile, investors shouldn't automatically dismiss the asset's potential.

"New technologies and frameworks lead to innovation, but they also create considerable confusion."

Matsuda said that technologies that can weather “societal tides” will become embedded in people's daily lives and give rise to economic development.

“Following the excitement and exhilaration that surrounded NFTs and the metaverse in 2021, 2022 was a year of great volatility in the blockchain-related space, however, if this proves to have been a step in a process that leads to the creation of rules and a more transparent business environment, it will definitely have been for the good of the growth of blockchain entertainment.”

Matsuda concluded the letter by saying that Square Enix is hard at work on several blockchain games, all of which will be revealed throughout 2023. Throughout 2022, Square Enix made several moves in the blockchain gaming space. Final Fantasy collectibles were announced for the Enjin platform in July. As of September, it is a validating node on the Oasys blockchain.

In addition, square Enix poured 7 billion yen ($52.7 million) into Gumi Games in December to assist the latter in creating mobile play-to-earn games. This latest letter suggests that, despite the uncertainty of 2022, the company has yet to make plans to reduce its investments in the space in 2023.