Both SBI and Square Enix now intend to make substantial strides in the cryptocurrency and blockchain game market. The deal is estimated to be worth $53 million.
A crypto game M&A agreement has been disclosed between the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed gaming company Square Enix and the securities, banking, and cryptocurrency heavyweight SBI of Japan. The businesses have agreed to buy shares of Gumi, a budding blockchain and cryptocurrency gaming company.
Gumi’s “game development and operational know-how” and SBI’s “token listing” expertise would be “combined,” according to a news statement from SBI. Added by SBI
Each trading platform is owned by SBI. The company continued by saying that it would use SBI NFT, its own NFT marketplace, “as a secondary distribution channel for NFTs obtained” in games made by Gumi.
SBI would become the largest stakeholder after the purchase, with 22.46% of the voting rights, according to a Gumi press statement from the gaming company with headquarters in Tokyo. With its investment, Square Enix receives a 3.01% share. The company Square Enix is well known for producing the video games Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
“We intend to offer on cryptoasset exchanges including SBI VC Trade and Bitpoint Japan.”
What Plans Do Square Enix and SBI Have for Crypto Gaming?
Square Enix stated earlier this year that continuing to concentrate on traditional gaming will “not be enough” for it to be successful in the future.
The business made the suggestion that future business models might incorporate user-generated content like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and play-to-earn cryptogames. The Gumi manoeuvre might be one of Square Enix’s earliest hesitant forays towards space.
SBI continued by saying that it was also “considering” starting “a platform devoted to blockchain games.”
It claimed that through “partnership,” it would be able to “create a one-stop service” for the gaming industry that would enable it to “produce and distribute blockchain games” in addition to “selling and distributing tokens and NFTs.”
SBI has already attempted to enter the gaming industry. It runs an e-sports team, and its players are compensated in XRP. Yoshitaka Kitao, the company’s CEO, is a Ripple board member. He asserted in 2019 that “every bank in Japan” would be using XRP by 2025.
