In the most recent Final Fantasy 14 ‘Letter from the Producer’, director Naoki Yoshida said the MMO would not get NFTs.
Yoshida said Final Fantasy 14 wouldn’t get NFTs. But he did say that he isn’t opposed to them elsewhere (thanks, Fanbyte). ‘Letter from the Producer’ streams typically show off plans for upcoming patches in FF14. And in the most recent one, Yoshida addressed whether NFTs would be coming to the MMO. “Based on how Final Fantasy 14 is designed, we don’t intend on incorporating any sort of NFT element in the game at this point.
“If anybody is worried or concerned about it, I can clearly state at this time we do not have any intentions to incorporate that into the game.” FF14 has a huge fandom, and was so popular with the latest expansion that many couldn’t even play the game. And many FF14 fans were concerned at whether the game would introduce NFTs. Especially considering Square Enix’s president is insisting on using the technology.
what about the backlash?
Yoshida is also aware of the backlash against Square Enix announcing their intent to go forward with NFTs. “We did notice a lot of reactions, especially from the Western [audience] about NFTs, many comments about how [they’re] opposed to NFTs,” he said. “I do understand our CEO [Yosuke] Matsuda commented on the concept of NFTs in his New Year’s message, and there might be a little bit of sensitivity and nervousness around the topic.”
While no NFTs are planned for FF14, Yoshida is still interested in the technology. “I do believe the vehicle itself could potentially be something that makes the concept of a video game a little bit more interesting. That being said, we would need a specific game design that would accommodate for the concept of NFTs.”
It’s not to say he will work on a game with them in, but it’s not a condemnation either. Hopefully the trend will crash and burn soon enough, so we don’t have to deal with news like this anymore.
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Featured Image Credit: Square Enix