Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company Sega’s Co-Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi said that the company is holding back its big IPs from third-party blockchain gaming projects. In the interview with Bloomberg, Utsumi said, “The action in play-to-earn games is boring; what’s the point if games are no fun?”
Sega has been very advocate in Web3 gaming despite the backlash it got from the fans. In early 2022, after fans expressed their concerns about NFT technologies, Sega made a statement and said that the company is re-evaluating its role in the NFT market. Just 11 days later, the company registered a trademark for the term Sega NFT.
A recent study on how gamers feel about Web3 technology revealed that 52% of Gamers aren’t familiar with any Web3 gaming terms, but one in every three Gamers has heard of “play-to-earn.” About 12% of Gamers tried Web3 games. About 41% of Gamers weren’t sure about how Web3 gaming would work. With the bigger names in the play, it is expected to see the bias against the Web3 games will be deteriorated.
“We’re looking into whether this technology is really going to take off in this industry after all,” Utsumi said to Bloomberg and continued, “Sega will still offer its lesser franchises to several blockchain games to be announced later this year and will continue to invest in related projects — to the tune of hundreds of millions of yen in each case.” Sega previously lit the green light to Legendary Japanese game designer and producer Yu Suzuki to launch Virtua Fighter NFTs.
The global crypto industry is going through a rough time, also described as Crypto Winter. Reduced market capitalization and low trading volumes not only affect cryptocurrency traders but also affects the Web3 gaming ecosystem.
