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Haruki Satomi, CEO of video game maker Sega, believes that it is more important for the company to retain an audience than to implement blockchain into its products.
Haruki Satomi said at the Sega management meeting that the company could stop experimenting with the implementation of NFT and the Play-to-Earn (P2E) model in traditional video games if gamers perceive the innovation negatively. Satomi believes that the introduction of P2E can be perceived by them as a way for the company to earn extra money from its products.
“We would like to do various experiments and have already started a lot of research, but right now we have not decided anything about P2E. This has already been stated many times, including abroad, since there are users who demonstrate negative reactions, ”he said.
Satomi also raised the subject of the metaverse, stating that for him the metaverse is a place where people gather and communities are created. Despite the hype, he believes that not every game with elements of the metaverse is a metaverse and that the gaming industry should focus on creating high-quality games rather than experiencing the metaverse.
“We want to make Super Game a product that supports global and multi-platform play with a network and community. If you introduce a competitive element of PvP into such a product, it can turn into an esports. In addition, it can become a metaverse if it has tens of millions of downloads worldwide and a certain number of active users. “
In April 2021, when Sega announced that it would start selling NFTs based on its intellectual property, the gaming community reacted negatively to the announcement. This forced management to reconsider the company’s priorities. Previously, other gaming giants such as Ubisoft and GSC Game World faced backlash when they announced studies of the possibility of introducing blockchain and related technologies into their products.
Probably, in addition to caring for users, Sega has a goal of retaining the Asian market. Last year, the Chinese authorities, following the ban on cryptocurrencies, began to pursue a policy to stop the development of the blockchain games industry. The country’s central television has already begun to pave the way for the ban.
Late last year, the South Korean government demanded that Apple and Google app stores stop distributing P2E games in the country, citing gamers’ income as a “prize” of no more than $ 8.4. At the same time, according to the Blockchain Gaming Alliance, revenue from games based on NFT for the III quarter of 2021 amounted to $ 2.32 billion.
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