We’ve learned the Final Fantasy XIV producer says they have no plans for NFTs, just prior to the game’s latest Letter from the Producer broadcast.
“I did mention it earlier, but based on how Final Fantasy XIV is designed, we don’t intend on incorporating any sort of NFT element in the game at this point,” director and producer Naoki Yoshida said. “So 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.”
Yoshida also talked up how the blowback from NFTs and NFTs being used in video games are usually coming from westerners.
“We did notice a lot of reactions from especially the western users about the NFTs. Many comments about how you are opposed to NFTs. I do understand that our CEO Matsuda had commented on the concept of NFT in his sort of New Years greetings, in his messaging. There may be a bit of sensitivity, a little bit of nervousness happening around the topic,” he said.
The director and producer then talked up how there are lots of misconceptions on what NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are, and said he’d love to talk about them in a separate, unrelated interview or discussion.
“Looking at how people are reacting to the subject matter, there also seems to be a good amount of people who may have it misconstrued as something like a mining effort, something like you are digging up,” Yoshida said. “There might be some misconception on what exactly an NFT is. So I would love if there is an opportunity to speak to the subject of NFTs in an interview that is completely unrelated to Final Fantasy XIV.”
Fans may not be happy to hear that like the aforementioned message from Square Enix’s president expressing interest in the potential for NFTs, Yoshida said he also sees the potential with the new technology platform.
“Because it is an opportunity for a new business model, and I do believe the vehicle itself could potentially be something that makes the concept of a video game a little bit more interesting,” Yoshida said. “With that being said, we would need a specific game design that would accommodate for that concept of NFTs.”
He added, “So if there ever is an opportunity to go into it in deeper detail I would like to talk about it. There’s a potential of utilizing it without going in a bad direction. With any sort of video game before we even talk about the financials or monetary discussions we need make sure the game itself is fun, are there fans of the game. That’s a very important piece that we still need to keep in mind with games.”
“Again, no NFTs in Final Fantasy XIV so don’t worry, I think that’s it for now.”
Final Fantasy XIV is available for Windows PC, Mac (via the SE Store, and Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and still planned for Xbox One. In case you missed it, you can find our Endwalker expansion review here (we can’t recommend it enough!)
