False exit and real entry Sega is setting a banner on the Web3 chain game track

Last week, game giant Sega (SEGA) announced its "exit" from blockchain games and shelved related project plans under development. Shuji Utsumi, the company's chief operating officer, said frankly that the main reason for this decision was the global cryptocurrency market. The industry is collapsing, and "exiting" the chain game market can avoid the depreciation of its content IP to the greatest extent.

Frankly speaking, Sega’s move is indeed sudden and unexpected, because for a long time in the past, Sega has been actively embracing emerging technologies such as blockchain and NFT——

• In April 2021, Sega announced the establishment of a partnership with and investment in Japanese NFT publisher double jump.tokyo to use blockchain technology for the global development of NFT digital content and the sale of Sega’s classic IP-related NFT content.
• In February 2022, Sega announced to cooperate with the well-known game company Bandai Namco to launch the "Oasys" game-specific blockchain project, which uses the proprietary "Oasys Architecture" and combines the first and second layers of technology, Compatible with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), supports multiple chains, and uses the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
• In April 2022, Sega disclosed that its "Super Game" (SuperGame) plan will use NFT.
• In September 2022, Sega will authorize its "Three Kingdoms" game to the encryption game start-up company double jump.tokyo to launch the corresponding Web3 card game.

However, Sega's latest decision to distance itself from Web3 and NFT also reflects the changing tide of the game industry. As Shuji Utsumi said, blockchain games at this stage are often boring and lack of fun. This sentiment caused many players and industry observers There are concerns about the game experience under the background of Web3 and NFT. But the question is, is Sega really going to give up the big cake of blockchain games? The answer may surprise you.

The chain game market is still a coveted "big cake"

In fact, in the current sluggish encryption market environment, the performance of the blockchain game vertical field is still outstanding, and the data will not lie——

In the second quarter of 2023, the number of daily independent active wallets (dUAW) interacting with Dapps on the chain increased by 7.97% compared with the first quarter, among which game Dapps continued to dominate, accounting for 37% of the market, far better than DeFi , NFT and social and other vertical markets. In the past three quarters, the daily average number of independent active wallets for blockchain games has always maintained a leading indicator, such as 51% in the third quarter of 2022, 42% in the fourth quarter of 2022, and 44% in the first quarter of 2023. %.

It is no exaggeration to say that the blockchain game market is still a coveted "big cake". The contrarian growth of the blockchain gaming market has also been interpreted by the industry as an encouraging sign of market recovery, with the sector still thriving despite prevailing regulatory turmoil, as reflected in growing market participation.

**Fake exit? Really admitted! **

If you really think that Sega is going to "quit" chain games? So small, the layout is small.

Just two days after Sega announced its so-called “exit” from the blockchain game market, they suddenly gave the crypto community another surprise—signed a cooperation memorandum of understanding with Line Next, intending to introduce its games into Line through IP licensing Next's blockchain gaming platform Game Dosi. In fact, the company Line Next has a lot of background. They are a subsidiary of the Korean instant messaging application giant LINE (it is said that Tencent is one of the important shareholders of LINE). They mainly develop NFT-based game systems. Under the new agreement, Line Next will Obtain Sega's game IP and Web3 game development license, and at the same time support NFT production, digital payment and marketing activities of related games on Game Dosi.

Obviously, this operation of Sega has shown that they have not completely abandoned the Web3 chain game strategy, but changed to a "entry" method, turning to cooperate with third parties to maximize the value of their IP, which can not only maintain valuable licenses The importance of operational integrity and prioritizing the gaming experience.

Shuji Utsumi also "changed his words" after signing a cooperation memorandum of understanding with Line Next:

***For most people in the traditional game industry, the huge potential that blockchain advocates say may sound a bit extreme, but this is the pain that the first person needs to go through, and we should never underestimate the area Blockchain technology. ***

According to the latest disclosure from VentureBeat, Sega said it will continue to invest in this area.

Summarize

At this stage, major traditional game companies have not given up investment in the construction of blockchain game infrastructure. For example: Ubisoft is the first major game company in the world involved in NFT, and Japanese game giant Bandai Namco also announced that it will open the Gundam Metaverse. Development, South Korea’s largest mobile game company Netmarble announced a dual-track strategy to attack blockchain games in January last year. At the same time, it will also issue its own cryptocurrency for in-game transactions. Square Enix, the developer of “Final Fantasy”, has also frequently increased its size Blockchain games, and even identified blockchain games as a new investment field for the company in the medium-term business strategy.

Of course, the development of the chain game market still has relatively large limitations. For example, players have a strong purpose-playing games is to make money. In terms of experience, the experience must be the first, and the economic model embedded in it should be considered second.

The good news is that more and more major game companies are beginning to pay attention to these issues and begin to inject fresh blood into the blockchain game market. There is no doubt that no one wants to give up this "big cake".