Square Enix announced that they will incorporate NFTs and crypto into their games in the future. Players of Final Fantasy XIV then became concerned that their MMORPG could be affected as well. The head of FFXIV has now responded to this.
This is what Naoki Yoshida says: In the last producer stream, FFXIV director Yoshida spoke about the future of his MMORPG in the coming years. In addition to the big graphics update, which will be introduced gradually, he also mentioned the topic of NFTs.
In the New Year’s letter to investors, the CEO of Square Enix stated that the company would focus on NFTs and crypto in 2022. This worried many FFXIV players, who would rather not see these features in their game.
Yoshida has now made a clear statement on the issue during the producer stream:
Based on how FFXIV is designed, we do not plan to incorporate any NFT elements into the game. So if any of you are concerned or anxious about this, I can clearly say at this point that we have no plans for NFTs in FFXIV. […]
Naoki Yoshida
This is what the voices on reddit and in forums say: The community received the announcement positively. Some players were relieved, while others said it was completely obvious. FFXIV lacks the necessary structure to implement NFTs.
- “It was ridiculous to assume that at all. Setting up a system in FFXIV is already hard and expensive enough, let alone a crypto system.” – SorsEU
- “It’s sad that this is the new ‘There will be no loot boxes in our game’ statement […]” – divineiniquity
- “I mean, it’s good that they won’t come to FFXIV, but to be honest, he should have completely rejected them.” – StriderShinryu
Additionally, some players noted that Final Fantasy XIV is also available on Steam and there blockchain games have been banned. This would conflict with Steam’s platform policies.
“Before talking about money, the game must be fun.”
This is what Yoshida said as well: The FFXIV head is generally not opposed to NFTs. In the stream, he also mentioned that they represent a new financing system and are not necessarily “bad.”
He would therefore like to delve deeper into the topic, but completely outside of FFXIV:
It is an option for a new business model and I think that the framework of it could make a video game a bit more interesting. However, a specific design would be needed that could accommodate the concept of NFTs.
So if at some point an opportunity arises to go into more detail, I would like to talk about it. I think there is the potential to use it without going in the wrong or bad direction.
But before that can even happen and before discussing money or the financing of a game, it must first be fun, according to Yoshida.
Fans of Square Enix games can therefore assume that future titles from the publisher could include NFTs. This might even include the next big Final Fantasy with the number 16, which is also produced by Yoshida.
While he has also set clear priorities there:
FFXIV or the new FFXVI? Head of both games has clearly set his priorities
