Square Enix has announced a partnership with the Web3 platform Elixir. This new alliance may help Square Enix to promote possible blockchain games for more traditional gaming audiences.
The NFT craze may have been forgotten in most circles these days, but if there’s a gaming company that is still excited about this technology's adoption it's Square Enix. During the first months of 2023, the former president of the company Yosuke Matsuda stated that Square Enix was looking to invest aggressively in NFTs, despite how little most gamers seem to be interested in this technology. The Final Fantasy 7 NFT cards released last month seem to be just the start of more plans to push these products forward.
Now, Square Enix is set to partner with Elixir, a platform focused on Web3 games, which are blockchain-based games that use NFTs. The announcement states that this is a strategic partnership for the company and that it may help to drive the adoption of these games for traditional gamers who are already hooked on Square Enix’s other projects. Elixir has previously partnered with Epic Games, too, in an effort to allow more Web3 games on the store, so something similar can be expected from this partnership.
Considering that Square Enix is doubling down on NFTs with its Symbiogenesis project, which was recently unveiled, this is not surprising at all. Symbiogenesis will be a new NFT-focused game that will use blockchain technology. However, given how much gamers seem to dislike this technology, Square Enix has a real challenge ahead to actually make people interested in it.
So far, gamers seem to be disinterested in NFTs, and Square Enix may end up losing some of its brand loyalty over these issues. There are not many examples of successful Web3 games.
Square Enix is not the only gaming company to be betting on NFTs right now. Sony recently filed a patent for cross-platform NFTs, for instance, and continues to show some interest in these technologies. In this specific patent, the technology giant describes a system that could be used to manage and monetize digital assets over different games and platforms, tying NFTs to in-game achievements. However, unlike Square Enix, which is already putting out NFT projects, it’s still early to say if Sony’s project will ever see the light of day.
Source: IGN