Square Enix and Crypto

[Caligula_1]

If they implement something like this, i hope a lot of people will cancel the sub and will not comeback into the game. I will. We do not need another Blizzard on our hands.

[Akashimo]

I've seen, the fall the rise the stagnation the fall, the rise, the soar of 14. But, through it all. Seeing SE's CEO make such a public statement. I cannot anymore. No matter how passionate, or strong emotional ties to the game, I cannot stand by and support a game and company that has to go in such a direction with NFTs and trying to cash in on the meta false hype.

This is my response. My wallet will be closed to SE and sadly, 14 as a result.

[Coulvre]

I have nothing particularly insightful to add but I seriously hope that they reconsider this idea and that it never comes anywhere near to FFXIV, or indeed FF in general. Even playing along with this strange idea of rewarding "people who contribute", I do not think crypto or NFTs are an appropriate way to go about this. There are many, many other more appealing and less harmful ways to reward fans.

[orakernel]

I sincerely hope that Creative Business Unit III (and SQEX on this matter) sees that all that NFT non-sense (that fun stuff, it's hurting artists more than ever) would be horrible for the game and that it's a bad trend to follow.
If the higher ups say that "the majority of players have voiced concerns about the matter", do they want to repeat not listening to their playerbase because "they know better"?

I really enjoy FFXIV and I sincerely hope they don't stain this game, or any of this company, with anything on this.

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

I mean, NFTs will eventually burst and be utterly worthless.

Can't blame those wanting to take advantage of that before that happens.

[Lily_Skye]

I was extremely disappointed to read this morning that Square Enix is embracing NFTs and other crypto-related schemes (as seen in this letter from the President of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda).

Much has already been said about environmental harms caused by existing approaches to crypto mining, notwithstanding potential (and, as-of-yet, largely unproven) ostensibly less-harmful alternatives. It is also plain for anyone with eyes to see that the crypto world is chock-full of scam artists, Ponzi schemes, and various other frauds. Beyond this, however, the continued financialization of gaming is a troubling development. Games have already seen the advent of paid downloadable content (some of which is fine!), microtransactions, extortive battle-pass type systems, not to mention lootboxes and the like. The last thing we need is yet another avenue for game publishers to extract revenue from their players.

In his letter, Matsuda writes:



Couching further financialization of gaming as catering to a heretofore purportedly underserved market of people who "play to contribute" is laughable at best. Games are not some new medium; I find it hard to fathom that there is some large market waiting to be served games which they care not to play, but instead to "contribute" to in some way. Frankly, it's hard for me to imagine what is even meant by this. Is tossing a Raise to a fallen adventurer in Bozja not contributing to the game?

On a personal level, this is a very disappointing development. I've been playing FFXIV since the second or third ARR beta, and truly love the work that YoshiP and the FFXIV team have done. However, I am loathe to contribute to the financial success of a company seeking to further financialize gaming, again notwithstanding the other rampant issues with crypto-related technologies.

Gonna have to think hard about whether to continue my subscription in light of this development.

Disgusting

I hope Yoshi-P doesn't let any of that bs make it to FFXIV

Shame on you, Yosuke Matsuda

[Dyvid]

[Nekaru_Infitima]

As someone actually in Cyber Security, and one who understands crypto more than the masses that demonize it. I'm all for NFTs.

[Ezzeloharr]

As someone actually in Cyber Security, and one who understands crypto more than the masses that demonize it. I'm all for NFTs.

I'd love to know why you're all for crypto, and what about your "Cyber Security" experience suggests it worth supporting in any capacity.

[SnowVix]

As someone actually in Cyber Security, and one who understands crypto more than the masses that demonize it. I'm all for NFTs.

I'm sure that's why Ethereum allows literal Wallet Inspector scams to go off with no recourse for the scammed.

Edited to add a tweet from a crypto guy who fell for the most blatant scam ever about it, because quite frankly, falling for "Spotify Wrapped but for your financial transactions" is hilarious: https://twitter.com/cat5749/status/1476813266462539779