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Square Enix, the Japanese AAA game developer and publisher, announced the launch of a new NFT-based gaming franchise, titled Symbiogenesis. The experience, which will be built on top of Ethereum, will leverage the use of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as art that users can set as profile pictures and use in a separate NFT market.
Square Enix Announces Symbiogenesis NFT Project
Square Enix, one of the leading Japanese gaming companies, has announced Symbiogenesis, one of its first NFT-based interactive experiences. On Nov. 3, as part of the company’s participation in the India Game Developers Conference, Square Enix finally cleared up the mystery that surrounded the game, thought to be related to its Parasite Eve franchise due to its name.
However, Square Enix announced the premise of the game to be very different. The upcoming experience will revolve around a series of character “symbiosis,” that would be available to be collected as digital art in the form of NFTs. These art NFTs will be a part of the story as characters solving a series of missions related to themes of “monopolization and distribution of resources.”
Square Enix indicated that the game would be using Ethereum as part of the blockchain element for Symbiogenesis. The game is set for release in Spring 2023.
Square Enix’s Web3 Commitment
While this is the first project the company is building from the ground up with Web3 in mind, Square Enix one of several traditional AAA gaming companies that has signaled its support for this kind of decentralized element in games.
The company declared itself open to exploring the development of blockchain games as part of a recent partnership with Oasys, a Japanese Web3 gaming blockchain project. Square Enix is also participating as a validator for the Oasys blockchain, which is currently launching its mainnet.
In May, Square Enix made blockchain part of its business strategy, indicating it would be contemplating the launch of new IPs containing NFTs being part of its world-building elements. Symbiogenesis’ description goes in line with these statements.
Large franchises of the company have also been selected to be used as themes for NFT products in the future. In July, Square Enix announced it would be dropping an NFT collection of its blockbuster hit Final Fantasy VII as part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the franchise. These will be issued on top of the Efinity network powered by Enjin.