Whether you like it or not, digital jargon in the form of blockchain has entered the current Japanese pop-cultural zeitgeist. Gone are the days when you would get a game and art as they are in one solid format; nowadays, the pinnacle of media is presented such that the user is much more involved than ever before.
Extra costs are present wherever you look, with free-to-play games being nothing more than Trojan horses for microtransactions and user-owned assets that are now tradeable. Developers dangle these straight into the faces of unassuming individuals, perpetuating a vicious cycle of gambling.
What are NFTs?
NFTs are essentially unique, digitally-owned assets. In the art space, this could be a special numbered image that has a creator and is purchased by and owned by someone. Its charm is its one-of-a-kind nature, in that it’s a piece that only you own. Such as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s Starry Night, there is only a singular entity that is all yours, albeit in the digital space. In the case of popular NFT culture though, that will be Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape #8817. Now you may be wondering why you can’t just screenshot it. Go figure.
In the gaming space, capitalism has spread far more expansive than we ever thought it could have, as now even the sweaty otakus have skin in the game through the GIFs of waifus they’re able to trade for cold hard cash. Unfortunately, the Japanese market has fully taken advantage of the current system, with famous artists and gaming companies entering the space. But, although the allure of monetizing practically everything has briefly turned into a cash cow for these many developers, it looks like many people have seen through these tricks these days.
2021: The Year of the Metaverse
This whole movement was brought into the public’s sphere of attention when then-Facebook changed its name to “Meta”. Short for Metaverse, this was creator Mark Zuckerberg’s way to usher in the next evolution of social networking and media in the form of virtual reality. In this space, everyone can be transported into a 2D world where you can meet, hang out, and do usual work in clothes that you would buy using virtual currency. To put more context into these times, this was also the same time blockchain currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum jumped into the picture, creating the bigger picture so to speak of everything being digitized and electronic.
The movement is definitely not just a fad and is one with staying power, as heavyweight fashion brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, and Balenciaga to name a few have fully embraced the Metaverse. It is now possible to buy branded clothes from these brands with real money to show and impress your friends virtually. As icing on the cake, there was no better way to advertise lookbooks and inspirations for your digital avatars than through a Metaverse Fashion Week(which pains us to say, actually happened). Those interested were also able to then purchase some of the looks as NFTs to add to their collectable assets, which they could then sell or trade. The best thing to come out of this project was possibly small to medium creators with little experience in designing physical clothes to make a living selling digitally rendered clothing without as much capital needed.
Blockchain Gaming: The Square Enix Dilemma
One of the main adopters of this technology in the Japanese gaming space is the beloved company Square Enix, creator of hit franchises Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Tomb Raider. The initial reception to Square Enix’s plan to delve into the world of blockchain technology was lukewarm, at best. In a letter that was released by the company’s president at the turn of the year, it mentioned the company’s main plan moving forward of being a major player in the digital space, utilizing blockchain for many of the company’s titles moving forward.
This announcement could not have come at a worse time, as gargantuan developers Ubisoft and Electronic Arts have recently come under fire for having players spend on in-game microtransactions on top of the already-steep entry prices of consoles and games just to “win”. This signalled to players that even more money was about to get involved in the gaming space, as even games that are predominantly single-player would include purchases that usually are not commonplace. In an even bigger slap to the face of their loyal supporters, Square Enix has entered the much-criticized Gacha space in their plans to include NFTs into the ecosystem, in the form of a Shi-San-Sei Million Arthur, an online free-to-play card game. What makes it worse is the company selling rights to the popular IPs Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to fund these projects. Only time will tell how these will be received by the market.
Blockchain Art: Takashi Murakami
Arguably the best thing to come out of this Blockchain technology is giving power to creators. In a world where you can simply download photos online and have them reproduced and sold at your own (illegal) discretion, the market created by the technology has given designers the means to earn from their art. Renowned Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is the prime example of this, at one point being a top-10 selling artist of NFTs in the world. He mentioned in an interview before how the space supercharged the art industry and gave him a second wind due to the presence of buyers and sellers online. His creations, Clone X and Flowers were both atop the leaderboards in NFT marketplaces, with the artist gaining about 5-10% in royalties from each sale. The kicker? Some of these artworks can sell for millions of dollars.
The Rise and Fall of NFTs
Because it is up to the players and owners of these digital assets to practically decide their value, what happens when there are just too many of these in the space? How about if people just decide they’re not willing to pay the exorbitant prices for these? What if everyone just decides to cash out after realizing they own nothing but pictures and GIFs of so-called assets that don’t actually have any intrinsic value? These are all concerns that those who did not do enough research fell victim to, as the NFT space as a whole collapsed, including those created by renowned Japaned artist Murakami.
Just recently, as various cryptocurrencies have dropped in value, so have all the different available NFTs for purchase. Some of Murakami’s artworks in particular have dropped in value by over 100x the amount they would sell for this time last year. In classic Japanese fashion, he took the time to apologize to all the owners of his works. The sad part is, that he can do nothing to control and influence market value because, at the end of the day, it is really all up to the buyers and sellers of this fabricated market.
Love them or hate them, we’re heading into the age where almost everything is not only digital but also monetized. Whether it be for convenience or not, the allure of being able to earn through any means possible has been both a boon and bane to developers and buyers alike. It remains to be seen how much convincing is needed for people to place the correct assessment on such digital commodities as monkeys and flowers in a world where there are arguably more pressing matters at hand.