Square Enix, the popular entertainment company and producer of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, has finally announced the details of its new gamified art collecting experience, Symbiogenesis. The project has been in partnership with the Polygon network, an Ethereum scaling solution. The Polygon network is chosen for Symbiogenesis due to its high transaction speeds, low gas fees, and user-friendliness. In addition, Polygon’s highly sustainable carbon-neutral status and Ethereum’s robust inherent security and decentralization are behind the choosing circumstance for the experience. 

The project aims to offer a unique experience for players through digital collectible art tied to a storyline that unfolds in a virtual (turn-based) adventure. The art evolves with each strategic move that is made by players. The project invites players to a mysterious floating continent; in this continent, unique storylines will be solved with the help of the information coming from the digital collectible arts. Each artwork is a representation of a different character. 

Players will get the digital collectible arts by dealing with various duties. Also, they will get the chance to encounter engaging stories about the world and its inhabitants by holding and trading the arts. Furthermore, players will collect utility items off-chain that can be traded on-chain via Polygon. 

Three players who have the particular properties for the conditions will be selected for joining the final ‘World Mission’. These players will determine the fate of the world and its inhabitants. At that point, we want to mention that there will be multiple endings although three players will be selected for the final. 

Urvit Goel, the vice president of global games and platform business development at Polygon Labs, expressed his pride in collaborating with Square Enix, one of the largest developers globally, demonstrating that Web3 technology has massive potential in gaming:

“Our latest collaboration just goes to show that Web3 is decisively getting more and more traction among the world’s largest developers, proving yet again that this innovative stack of technologies and the benefits they bestow have massive potential when it comes to gaming.”

The project is part of Square Enix’s push into blockchain gaming, with the company pledging “aggressive investment and business development efforts” in blockchain entertainment. Square Enix has multiple blockchain games based on original intellectual property under development as part of its strategy for 2023.

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While the Symbiogenesis project is slated to launch in Spring 2023, gamers remain skeptical of blockchain integration. Yet, investment in Web3 gaming has continued to grow despite the broader crypto market downturn. During the third quarter of 2022, venture capital funds invested approximately $1.5 billion into Web3 companies.

According to the most recent State of the Game survey from GDC, interest in blockchain technology decreased in the past year. However, Square Enix is committed to push into blockchain gaming which may change the gaming industry’s perception of blockchain technology and its potential uses.

Symbiogenesis’s unique approach to gaming could attract a new generation of gamers to the blockchain and provide an exceptional experience that builds community and fosters trading, or this will be another Square Enix’s disasters. Time will tell.