Final Fantasy 7 NFTs Are Coming Next Year — Kind Of

Square Enix is a big believer in “Web 3 gaming“, the integration of cryptocurrencies and NFTs into video games. On Wednesday it was announced that the company’s crown jewel, Final Fantasy 7, will get its own NFTs next year. Kind of. 

The nonfungible tokens (NFTs) Square Enix has in mind for Final Fantasy 7 are different from conventional NFTs. The current trend is for artists and groups to release artwork sets of 5,000 to 20,000 NFTs, which can be used as profile pictures on social media. Bored Ape Yacht Club is the most famous example of this, but there are many more successful collections of this ilk. 

Square Enix isn’t going this route. Instead, the NFTs will be tied into physical merchandise the Japanese gaming giant is releasing next year. To celebrate Final Fantasy 7’s 25th anniversary, Square Enix will next year release a trading card set and a figurine of Cloud Strife. Those who buy packets of the trading card will be able to redeem a virtual version, which will exist as an NFT. Similarly, the $160 Digital Plus Edition of the Cloud figurine will come with an NFT version of the toy.

The NFTs will be built on Polkadot, a blockchain that’s significantly more environmentally friendly that industry leaders bitcoin and ether. 

Square Enix has several times stated its interest in harnessing the blockchain for gaming. In May it sold several western development studios, including Tomb Raider-maker Crystal Dynamics, in part to fund its blockchain adoption. In his new year’s letter to investors and customers, Square Enix’s president, Yosuke Matsuda, acknowledged that the NFT market is “overheated,” but wrote that games featuring token economies can usher in a new era of user-generated content.

Blockchain-powered gaming is already a huge moneymaker, just not from traditional gaming companies. Yuga Labs in April made $320 million selling land for its upcoming metaverse game in just three hours. Traditional gaming audiences reject the idea, however. Ubisoft integrated NFTs into Ghost Recon Breakpoint in December, but the announcement trailer received so much criticism that the company took it down from YouTube. Similar blowback caused GSM Game World to scrap NFTs in its STALKER 2 game just 36 hours after revealing plans to integrate them.

Traditional gaming audiences reject the idea, however. Ubisoft integrated NFTs into Ghost Recon Breakpoint in December, but the announcement trailer received so much criticism that the company took it down from YouTube. Similar blowback caused GSM Game World to scrap NFTs in its STALKER 2 game just 36 hours after revealing plans to integrate them.