Meanwhile, Square Enix may have to try to placate fans who were convinced that Symbiogenesis was actually a revival of 1998's Parasite Eve. Square Enix sold off some of its more notable Western studios this year and it initially planned to plow much of the proceeds into the blockchain and other tech before walking back on that plan. It's not a surprise that the company is moving in this direction after announcing in January that it would invest in blockchain games. It seems Square Enix is facing an uphill battle to make Symbiogenesis a success. A few weeks later, an Ubisoft executive claimed players would benefit from having a marketplace where they could buy and sell NFTs of in-game items, "but they don't get it for now." In April, Ubisoft announced that the game wouldn't receive any more content updates, effectively putting the game on ice and diminishing whatever value Ghost Recon Breakpoint's NFTs had. Last December, it emerged that Ubisoft had sold barely any NFTs in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the first title in which it employed blockchain tech. However, the NFT market has cratered this year. This is one of the highest-profile stabs at an NFT-driven gaming experience yet. That release, and Symbiogenesis’ gut-punch of an announcement, comes after Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said in a public letter that after “NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base,” the publisher viewed “AI, the cloud, and blockchain games as new domains on which we should focus our investments.By subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy. You can look at those digital models on a PC or smart phone. Square Enix launched a Final Fantasy 7-related NFT project earlier this year, offering digital versions of its Bring Arts toys as a $30 Digital Plus surcharge. If any aspect of that sounds appealing enough to dump some spare crypto on, check back in spring 2023, when Symbiogenesis NFTs and its associated free browser service are set to launch. In theory, Symbiogenesis’ art could be used for profile picture on social media and “as a character in a story that takes place in an alternate world where the player can ’untangle’ a mystery by completing missions that revolve around questions of the monopolization and distribution of resources.” Fans of Square Enix’s Parasite Eve games felt a twinge of hope last month when the publisher registered a trademark for the term “symbiogenesis,” which multiple reports noted as meaning “merging of two separate organisms to form a single new organism.” Those reports also attempted to connect that definition to the Parasite Eve games (and their inspiration), fueling speculation that Square Enix was returning to the action-RPG series after more than a decade.īut on Thursday, Square Enix fully extinguished those hopes, announcing at the Web3 Conclave in India that Symbiogenesis is actually the game publisher’s “first digital collectible art project designed from the ground up for Web3 fans.” Described cynically as “brand-new entertainment content,” Symbiogenesis promises collectible digital art paired with an interactive story and “a dedicated community.” It’s unclear how Square Enix could guarantee the latter, but that seems unimportant to the intended audience.
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