The producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV has stated that the team and Square Enix “do not have any intentions” to add NFTs to the popular online MMO. In the latest livestream, Naoki Yoshida stated that FFXIV NFTs would never be a thing. “No NFTs in FFXIV,” he confirms – opposite to a recent statement by Square Enix’s CEO.
Final Fantasy XIV’s latest Letter to the Producer live broadcast went out this weekend and touched on a number of subjects, including the long-term future of the MMO. During the pre-broadcast segment (thanks, Fanbyte) the stream’s titular producer Naoki Yoshida spoke – through Square Enix translator Aimi Tokutake – about the NFT controversy.
“We don’t intend on incorporating any sort of NFT element in the game at this point,” Yoshida confirms. “If anybody is worried or concerned about it, I can clearly state at this time that we do not have any intentions to incorporate that into the game.” Then, just to be absolutely clear, he repeated, “no NFTs in FFXIV, so don’t worry.”
Yoshida’s statement runs a little counter to Square Enix itself, as CEO Yosuke Matsuda posted a letter at the start of 2022 praising the potential of NFTs and “blockchain games”. However, while Yoshida dismissed the idea of NFTs in FFXIV, the producer believe NFTs are “an opportunity for a new business model” and could “potentially be something that makes the concept of a video game a little bit more interesting”, although it would need “a specific game design” to accommodate them.
NFTs are a deeply controversial topic at the moment. Team 17 and STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World were forced to abandon their NFT plans after a massive backlash, and Ubisoft appears to be going all-in with NFTs. Indie storefront Itch.io, however, did not mince words in its statement on the subject: “NFTs are a scam”.