Sega revealed that it was teaming up with developer Double Jump to launch an NFT line in April 2021, and the reaction wasn't exactly positive. Fans criticised Sega for the move, highlighting the environmental damage NFTs cause, and nearly a year later, Sega has finally acknowledged these complaints.
"In terms of NFT, we would like to try out various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this point regarding play-to-earn," Sega said in a management meeting. "There have been many announcements about this already including overseas but there are users who show negative reactions at this point.
"We need to carefully assess many things such as how we can mitigate the negative elements, how much we can introduce this within the Japanese regulation, what will be accepted and what will not be by the users," Sega continued. "Then, we will consider this further if this leads to our missions 'Constantly Creating, Forever Captivating', but if it is perceived as simple money-making, I would like to make a decision not to proceed."
With that, it's clear that Sega isn't taking cancellation off the table - if the reception from fans is heard, there is a possibility that the plans will be scrapped entirely. It's not entirely clear how Sega will measure feedback and online criticism, but it's a potential step away from NFTs which is becoming an increasing rarity among larger game publishers.
Konami has just launched its own NFT line called Konami Memorial, starting with Castlevania for its 35th Anniversary, while GameStop is opening an online marketplace for NFTs. Square Enix and Ubisoft are also getting into NFTs and cryptocurrency, with the former saying that games shouldn't be fun. All in all, there's a lot of bad NFT news piling up, but there are some little slithers of hope slipping through the cracks, like Josef Fares denouncing them and Stalker removing them. Let's just hope that Sega follows suit, aye?