Only days into the new year, fans of the critically acclaimedFinal Fantasy 14are concerned for the future of the game, as Square Enix recently revealed worrying plans for the future of its properties. Even before any official announcements, fans are already pushing back against possible effects a recent statement from the Square Enix president could have onFinal Fantasy 14.
Final Fantasy 14has run for many years at this point and recently saw a massive surge of success with the Endwalker expansion. As such, a game with a large playerbase has a responsibility to listen to fans, lest it fail to retain players.
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On New Year’s Day 2022, aletter from Square Enix president Yosuke Matsudawas published on Square Enix’s official website. Within the letter, Matsuda spoke in support of cryptocurrency, NFTs and a movement from games being designed for players who “play to have fun” to “play to contribute” as he words it. Naturally, such statements are attracting major backlash from players, given the controversial, ill-advised and often financially unsustainable place NFTs and cryptocurrency currently have in gaming. Especially in a game that lives on content updates such asFinal Fantasy 14, the possibility of such things being implemented in future expansions is a real cause for concern.
The vast majority of recent relevant posts on theFinal Fantasy 14subreddit are calling for Square Enix to reconsider its NFT ventures, with Matsuda’s letter bringing widespread attention to the issue. Hopefully with thefinancial failure of other companies' NFT ventures, Square Enix will avoid the trouble of becoming involved with the controversial technology any further, but only time will tell.
The context of the letter fits into a high lack of self-awareness; theFinal Fantasyseries, especiallyFinal Fantasy 7and its recent remake, carry heavily pro-environmentalist messages. To implement technologies widely known for their high negative environmental impact into the same series asFinal Fantasy 7would betray the core values upheld by much of the franchise, coming full circle as Square Enix becomes a parallel to its own villains. EvenFinal Fantasy 7itself is not immune to corporate cashgrabs, as evidence points to thePC port ofFF7 Remakebeing rushed and unfinished.
Square Enix is far from the only massive company stepping into the blockchain space, and is not even the only one doing so against its franchises' core ideals;SEGA of Japanannounced last year that the company would be experimenting with NFTs, but backlash seems to be effective against the potentially devastating move, with the environmentalist message ofSonic the Hedgehogcommonly cited as antithetical to NFTs. For now, it remains to be seen how Square Enix will approach NFTs and theFinal Fantasy 14community’s response to them.
Final Fantasy 14is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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