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What's the future of blockchain games? Special conversation between former Square Enix employee Yoichi Wada and "Coin Musume"'s Takuya Tsuji

2025/01/30Editors of Iolite
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ブロックチェーンゲームの今後は? 元スクウェア・エニックス和田洋一 ×「コインムスメ」辻拓也——特別対談

A special dialogue between top runners from across fields

Before we begin our conversation, please tell us how you became an advisor for Coin Musume.

Yoichi Wada (hereafter, Wada): It all started when I met you at an event and I felt that you were doing something interesting.

The game industry is divided into two groups: major and indies. On top of that, Tsuji-san was successful as a PC indie gamer for the first time, and now he is venturing into a completely different field. I thought this attempt itself was interesting.

The other is the challenge to the intangible thing called Web 3.0. I think that Web 3.0 is expressed differently by each person, such as "Web 3" or "web3", but I think this is a phenomenon that occurs because the definition differs depending on the person. While there are various worldviews of Web 3.0, Coin Musume is doing something quite simple.

Until now, I think that most of the cases were just described as a blockchain game, or blockchain was forcibly brought into the game.

However, Coin Musume feels like "playing with blockchain". Normally, the idea would be to add blockchain to a game as usual, but instead, I thought it was interesting to think outside the box by making the blockchain itself a girl character. This was a big reason why I joined Coin Musume.

You two have been involved in the game industry for a long time. Could you tell us your thoughts on the current state of game development and changes in revenue models?

Takuya Tsuji (hereinafter Tsuji): With the advent of smartphones, the game industry is moving away from the traditional one-time purchase model where you buy software and then play, and towards a free-to-play model where you play and then pay. Also, with the spread of smartphones, the game industry has grown significantly, but personally I feel that it has become too bloated. As a reaction to this, the current game industry is sluggish, and mobile app games in particular are in a tough situation.

Wada: Looking back over the past 40 years, the environment in which games are played and the business model have been completely linked. It started with arcade games, but at that time, the store decided when and where the games could be played. After that, home video games became popular and individuals had more freedom, but still, they could only play packaged games, and if they were no longer available in stores, they could not be played at all.

From there, it became possible to download games, and after online micropayments became possible, free-to-play (F2P) games were born. As you can see from the flow so far, sovereignty is shifting from the supply side to the user. In particular, F2P games were not only the first in the industry to realize post-payment, but also allowed users to decide the amount they themselves would pay.

I think the next possibility is the Web 3.0 platform. Not only can users freely buy and sell NFTs with each other, but the extremely high degree of freedom, such as the user being able to decide the amount, is a major strength.

On the other hand, too much freedom can also be difficult. If it's too difficult, it's discouraging, but if it's too free, users will not know what to do. I think that the current Web 3.0 is in a state where users don't know what to do when faced with an environment that is too free.

In a previous interview with our magazine, Tsuji mentioned "community" as an important aspect of blockchain games. As sovereignty shifts to the users, do you also think that the presence of the community is important?

Wada: Rather than being important, I think it is essential. Whether it's words or money, these are all means of communication when exchanging value. Words and tokens have different ways of mediating. Words disappear if they are not recorded at this moment, but tokens remain. In that respect, tokens are also excellent media. However, because they are too abstract, the hurdles are also higher. That's why people tend to find them difficult or avoid them.

Tsuji: This balance is really exquisite, and even if you say it's a community, I feel that it is difficult to fill this gap. Personally, I think that "content x platform" is necessary for the current gaming industry, and I think that in order to overcome the chasm, it is important to gather people and promote understanding within that.

There are various definitions of blockchain games, but I think the time will definitely come when tokens and NFTs will be integrated into the gaming experience. When that time will come will depend on the content, and I think it is the community that will spread it.

Continuing on the subject of content, I would like to ask you this: in order to increase the number of blockchain game users, do you think it is better to use existing IP owned by major companies, or original IP?

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Iolite Vol.12

March 2025 issueReleased on 2025/01/29
Interview Iolite FACE vol.12 Chainalysis Japan, Masahiko Uchida, Messari Japan CEO/DeFimans Inc. CEO and Co-founder, Taishi Sato PHOTO & INTERVIEW Darenogare Akemi Special feature: "What is Ethereum? Approaching the light and darkness of Ethereum," "What will happen to Bitcoin in 2025? A thorough explanation of important topics and future prospects," "2025 cryptocurrency trend forecast: Events that weave the history of cryptocurrencies and a calendar of future predictions" Special interview: Takuya Tsuji, CEO of Techcross Inc. x Yoichi Wada, former CEO of Square Enix Series Tech and Future Sasaki Toshinao...etc.