Sega Rethinks GameFi Plans, COO Calls Blockchain Gaming 'Boring': Bloomberg

Sega, once a championing voice for GameFi and blockchain-based games, is now quitting the sector, according to a Bloomberg report.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Sega’s co-Chief Operating Officer, Shuji Utsumi, said that the gaming giant is now apprehensive about the technology and will be canceling plans to develop its own blockchain games.

“We’re looking into whether this technology is really going to take off in this industry, after all,” Utsumi told Bloomberg in an interview. “The action in play-to-earn games is boring. What’s the point if games are no fun?”

The Japanese firm had previously announced that it would withhold some of its best-known games and IP from blockchain. However, it still intends to allow third-party developers to produce blockchain games. Last year it announced that it had signed a deal with a development house called Double Jump Tokyo to develop blockchain games based on its lesser-known IP.

The company had always been cautious about the allure of blockchain gaming. When it first announced that it was entering the field, it prefaced its entry by saying it would withdraw if “it is perceived as simple money-making.”

Sega is an investor in Asia-based crypto fund IVC, which is an active investor in GameFi projects. A number of Sega executives were present at IVC’s recent IVS crypto conference in Kyoto, Japan.