NFT and blockchain push from Square Enix raises share price despite backlash

After sharing plans for NFTs, the blockchain and the metaverse, Square Enix’s share price has increased by eight per cent, despite player backlash.

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As reported by Bloomberg, this is the biggest jump for the company since last August. It happened today, the first day of trading since a letter was published over the new year. The letter, which was written by Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda, was met with ire by players and industry figures alike for suggesting that those who “play to have fun” are currently “the majority of players,” but that this will change in future.

The shift is being touted as worrisome, although Matsuda’s letter does note that: “However, we do observe examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided.”

“This, obviously, is not an ideal situation,” he continues. “But I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, with the value of each available content corrected to their true estimated worth, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods.”

Back in November of last year Square Enix’s financial results pointed towards this NFT shift, as the “proof of concept” Million Arthur NFTs were a success, with the company promising it “will transition to [a] full commercialisation phase.”

Both in last year’s financial results and the new year’s message, Matsuda focuses on “token economics”: “By contrast, blockchain games, which have emerged from their infancy and are at this very moment entering a growth phase, are built upon the premise of a token economy and therefore hold the potential to enable self-sustaining game growth,” he wrote.

“The driver that most enables such self-sustaining game growth is diversity, both in how people engage with interactive content like games, and in their motivations for doing so.”

In other news, the creator of hit word-puzzle game Wordle has talked about how the game came about, and the relationship it has with the player.

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