Despite previous hesitations and fan backlash over potentially embracing NFTs, Sega trademarks NFTs in new filings discovered this past week.
The news that Sega trademarks NFTs comes via the first trademark for “Sega NFT” and a second trademark for “Sega Classics NFT Collection.” Both trademarks were filed with the Japanese Patent Office back in December 2021, and were only recently discovered.
While the first trademark could be for anything related to Sega and NFT’s (non-fungible tokens), the latter sounds like something similar to what Konami did to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Castlevania – by selling NFTs of pixel art and music from the games.
Previously, Sega noted they wanted to “try out various experiments” with NFTs and they have been studying or taking things into consideration, but firmly said “nothing is decided at this point regarding play to earn”, with NFTs in their video games.
Sega said at the time that “there are users who shows negative reactions at this point” and because of that they had to “carefully assess many things such as how we can mitigate the negative elements.”
Furthermore, the company said they needed to figure out “how much we can introduce this within the Japanese regulation” and most importantly “what will be accepted and what will not be by the users.”
Sega previously confirmed that if their pursuit of NFTs was “perceived as simple money-making,” they would decide not to proceed with the new business model. Overall Sega noted regardless of what their decision with NFTs becomes, they will always follow their mission of “Constantly Creating, Forever Captivating.”
Whatever comes out of their decision with NFTs, Sega is just the latest gaming company to express interest in NFTs, with companies like Square Enix and Ubisoft hopping on board. Veteran developer Peter Molyneux’s new game is focused entirely on NFTs, though, and has hilariously made lots of money already.
Maybe Sega will sell an NFT of the above infamous scene from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), or when Princess Elise literally kisses Sonic in the game, reviving him and empowering him to become Super Sonic. Yes, that actually happened.
This is Niche Gamer Tech. In this column, we regularly cover tech and things related to the tech industry. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s tech or a story you want us to cover!
