What took them so long to realize blockchain games suck! Sega executives have finally renounced blockchain games and will no longer use the platform to build major titles as their COO Shuji Utsumi called these games “boring” and “no fun”.
You’d like to think honesty and respect for their customers finally got the better of Sega’s corporate heart, but we all know that’s not the case for the blockchain.
Despite professing and promising multiple games and even a “Super Game” to be built using the blockchain, Sega are doing a full 180 as they’ve announced they’re cancelling all blockchain products and games and even their COO Shuji Utsumi said that blockchain games are “boring” and “no fun”. And, even though it’s nice to hear higher ups as Sega denounce the blockchain gaming sphere, I really don’t think Sega is going to fully repent for diving headfirst into the market.
Now, I have to be clear and say that Sega has not officially shut the door on all their games entering the blockchain play-to-earn market as Sangokushi Taisen, one of Sega’s gaming IPs, was pushed for development on the blockchain, but major titles like Sonic, Total War, Football Manager, etc. will officially not be licensed by the company for blockchain games.
And with the quotes from Shuji Utsumi saying how he dislikes the blockchain and he play-to-earn model, I hope Sega are finally realizing what an anti-consumer friendly scam the blockchain truly is.
Maybe others will disagree with my assessment of NFTs and play-to-earn games, but the notion that earning “unique” NFTs that have real-world value is about as realistic and feasible as Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web growing wings and flying through your window.
An NFT or a token from the blockchain just doesn’t have any real-world value like a $5 bill or an equivalently priced video game as they not only have no tangible value…because they’re purely digital tokens, but they also aren’t nearly as “unique” as they’re made out to be.
Similarly, to the creation of a $5 bill or a nickel (5¢ coin), NFTs and tokens of its ilk are minted from Ethereum on blockchain using specialized computers and then they are digitally created into whatever the originally minter wants, such as a digital picture of a tissue box or a digital Picasso painting.
However, what makes an NFT and an individual nickel unique is not the image engraved/digitalized on it (aka: the portrait of Thomas Jefferson on the front and an image of Monticello (Jefferson’s old Virginia home) on the back in the case of the nickel and whatever the minter wants in the case of the NFT), but rather the mint number of the nickel and NFT. Each individual nickel and NFT is unique as it is the only one in circulation.
For example, a user might be able to mint the one and only NFT #56 (serial number) in the world while also possessing the one and only #56 (serial number) nickel minted by the US Treasury, but the NFT (which can be the image of a tissue box in this example) and the nickel are not rare for what is engraved/digitalized on it. It’s the fact they are the #56 nickel and NFT, respectively, that give them “value”.
(Sega/Creative Assembly-Total War: Rome II-Imperator A
But, the actual value of the nickel, despite being the only #56 nickel in circulation, is still 5¢ at the end of the day…just like an NFT. And especially so considering NFTs are a recent invention unlike the nickel that can grow in value over time if it was a part of a limited mint and you can’t collect NFTs for a collection like you can nickels and other real-world coins.
And would you pay $100 or so to play a play-to-earn game when your only avenue to make that money back is to create NFT’s worth about as much as a nickel to the smart investor/gamer? Obviously not. Or at least I hope you’re not.
Thus, along with the blockchain being rife with pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, and suffering a $650M+ hack out of its the estimated $4B market cap a while back, there’s no reason why Sega would even think about putting Sonic, Total War, or Football Manager on a platform as controversial as it.
So, that’s the obvious reason why Sega, despite being gung-ho about building blockchain games and NFTs back in 2021 and 2022 (when most people didn’t realize the nickel analogy) as their executives are filled by crony corporate dups that go with the hot trend at the time, have mostly pulled out of the blockchain market. Not for any loyalty to fans or a sudden distaste for the play-to-earn model of crypto gaming.
But don’t get me wrong. I appreciate Sega for doing so as they could have easily of doubled down and pushed Sonic, Total War, Football Manager and all of their big brands onto the blockchain, which would have been a disaster for fans and Sega alike.
I just wish they would have realized the blockchain’s shortcoming much sooner.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Sega) (Sonic Frontiers – Story Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Sega/Creative Assembly) (Imperator Augustus Trailer / Total War: ROME II / Campaign Pack – YouTube)
