Square Enix plans to issue tokens and invest heavily in Web3 gaming

cointelegraph.com:

Gaming giant Square Enix has revealed in its Q1 earnings report that it will expand nonfungible tokens (NFT) into more game products as part of its medium-term business strategy in 2022.

Square Enix (SE) is a Japanese game developer with $3 billion in assets under management according to its latest earnings report. The firm owns the Final Fantasy property and sold the Tomb Raider franchise for $300 million on May 3.

The report states that the firm piloted NFTs on the Shi-San-Sei Million Arthur game starting in February this year. The success of the pilot program will lead to the second season of the game’s NFTs and will ultimately see the firm pursue broader activities in the NFT and blockchain industries.

Among the top priorities of its blockchain domain initiatives, SE plans on establishing regulatory clarity and guidelines for blockchain games, tackling scalability in NFT economies, and considering founding a corporate capital venture unit.

The firm also stated that it plans on establishing an overseas entity that will handle “issuing, managing, and investing our own tokens,” suggesting the firm will begin creating an expansive gamingtoken economy.

SE has been working with Web3 gaming and Metaverse venture capital firm Animoca Brands to explore its options in the blockchain gaming space. Cooperation between the two firms is expected to grow as SE delves further into the ecosystem.

Animoca’s Executive Chairman Yat Siu believes Square Enix’s influence in gaming will only help the firm form a foothold in blockchain gaming. He told Cointelegraph today:

Related: GameFi is showing signs of a mature landscape: Report

The report puts investments in and monetization of blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing as