While it has just offloaded a good part of its Western studios, we thought Square Enix in a takeover position. Nay!
Backing up to jump better has been the motto of the company lately. After licensing as tomb Raider or even Deus Ex, to the group Embracerthe Japanese publisher is preparing for the future, and the future will be without being redeemed.
New studios for new IPs
Yes, since as a reminder, the sale of the studios had brought back rumors according to which Square Enix would have made the perfect candidate for a takeover offer from Sony. But obviously, this is not the case and the firm intends to continue to go it alone.
During its latest financial report, SE shared its upcoming plans. The Japanese company now intends to expand its offer by creating new IPs. To do this, Square raises the possibility of buy new studios or create their own.
In reality, the recent sale of its Western studios has a specific objective, that of “to optimize the allocation of its resources”, in order to “best meet the needs of its customers” while “maximizing its profitability”.
If the desire to boost its offer by offering new creations is good news, it is nevertheless accompanied by another measure that will please players much less.
Blockchain is the future
Square Enix has indeed talked about future investments in “priority areas” to “transform its portfolio”, such as AI, the cloud and… the blockchain (NFT).
The publisher has also returned in more detail to the latter, stating be pretty happy with their first season of NFT around the manga Shi-San-Sei Million Arthur, so much so that a second batch is expected shortly.
Encouraged by the results and feedback from our NFT activity, we decided to produce a second season. […]Our plan is to integrate gaming content into our service and leverage the development and operational expertise we have accumulated in our existing businesses to explore the potential of different revenue structures, gaming impact and experiences in NFT activity.
It’s nothing new, Square Enix has always said they’re interested in NFTs, even though some pundits have tried to downplay things on several occasions. Lack of luck, at the time of writing, the blockchain market is in free fall. Obviously, this may only be temporary, but above all it testifies to the high volatility of this technology which can quickly become a money pit, especially for average users.
Although most players do not say they are interested in NFTs and the market is particularly unstable, the fact remains that it is obviously fertile ground that brings in enough to be conducive to investment.
We want to take Square Enix at its word, but will tend to agree with gamers when they say they would rather see the industry bet on something other than collectible digital content that can lose its value at any time. Furthermore.
Source: www.gamesindustry.biz
