Final Fantasy 14 Director Says “No” To NFTs

There are absolutely no plans at present to incorporate any NFT or blockchain-related technology in Final Fantasy 14.

There are absolutely no plans at present to incorporate any NFT or blockchain-related technology in Final Fantasy 14.

During a new Letter to the Producer broadcast (via PCGamesN) on the weekend, producer and director Naoki Yoshida assured everyone that they need not worry about NFTs making their way into Final Fantasy 14 at any given point.

“We don’t intend on incorporating any sort of NFT element in the game at this point,” confirmed Yoshida. “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 later reiterated the same, “no NFTs in FFXIV, so don’t worry.”

Final Fantasy 14 staying away from NFTs will probably make a portion of the player-base happy. However, it should be noted that Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda was all praise for NFTs and “blockchain games” earlier in the year.

NFTs have become a controversial subject. Several publishers and developers have entered the fray with some being forced to back out in the face of criticism.

Take-Two Interactive, as a more recent example, is “highly convinced” of an NFT future where the publisher intends to take advantage of any digital opportunity on hand. Ubisoft similarly intends to go all in as well by supporting its own blockchain ventures. Electronic Arts also envisions NFT and blockchain games as the “future” of the games industry but has made no announcement, yet.

Team17 and GSC Game World jumped onto NFTs as well but had to abandon those plans after facing backlash from the community. OnceLost Games, the developer of The Wayward Realms, has condemned the involvement of NFTs because “they are likely to do more harm to the industry than good.” Indie storefront Itch.io has on the other hand labelled the whole thing as a “scam.”

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...