Sega Announces NFT Game Shortly After COO Expresses Doubt in Blockchain

Sega will be working with Line Corporation, a popular Japanese mobile messaging app that has gone all in on blockchain-focused game production, on a brand new game. This comes shortly after Sega’s COO hinted that the company would be dropping its blockchain plans due to games made for the technology being “boring.”

The game, announced Monday, will be built in collaboration with Line Next, Line Corporation’s division focused on the development and support of blockchain games. The game will utilize Line Next’s Game Dosi, a proprietary platform built by the messaging app to incorporate the use of NFTs across all of its titles.

While the announcement didn’t specify which of Sega’s popular IPs would be used, the companies said in a press release that the game will feature “NFT production, digital payments, and marketing activities.”

The news, ironically, comes less than a week after Sega Chief Operating Officer Shunji Utsumi told Bloomberg News that the Japanese publisher is changing course on incorporating NFTs into future games in franchises like Sonic The Hedgehog and Yakuza.

“We’re looking into whether this technology is really going to take off in this industry, after all,” Utsumi told Bloomberg News.

The COO specifically told the business outlet that the company is no longer considering any sort of blockchain integration in any of its so-called “super games,” an indeterminate number of big-budget online multiplayer titles that will be a major pillar in the publisher’s business strategy in the coming years. The first of these titles will be released in 2026, according to Bloomberg.

The new Line Next-Sega collaboration was likely in the works before Sega’s decision to drop blockchain support for its larger, tentpole releases.

Utsumi’s interview with Bloomberg marked a notable change from the company’s attitude a couple years ago. In 2021, Sega announced plans to embrace the technology at the height of its popularity. Sega was then joined by other big game publishers, including Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Bandai Namco, all of whom signaled plans to create games with NFTs in mind.

In the two years since blockchain technology’s most recent resurgence, however, its practical use in the gaming space has been called into question by high profile disasters. Once popular blockchain games like Cryptoland and Axie Infinity have failed to live up to the promise of rewarding players monetarily for playing, and failed to maintain player engagement.

Perhaps the niche subgenre’s biggest hurdle is justifying what the inclusion of blockchain technology adds to gameplay. It’s one of the major reasons Utsumi says Sega is changing course.

“The action in play-to-earn games is boring,” Utsumi told the outlet. “What’s the point if games are no fun?”

The news from Sega is the latest in a trend of big publishers pulling back their crypto plans. Most recently, Ubisoft downscaled its blockchain plans after the failure of its own NFT platform, Ubisoft Quartz.

Not everyone is turning away from the initial excitement around blockchain in gaming. In April, Square Enix reaffirmed its intention to incorporate the tech in future titles, despite the rest of the industry’s reluctance. Bandai Namco also doubled down on its plans to use blockchain in games.

While most of the industry has lost interest in using blockchain tech in game development, others are finding alternate ways of using it. Robot Cache, a new online game storefront, is using blockchain tech to allow players to sell their digital games. It officially came out of beta last week.