Before the Harry Potter franchise became the global phenomenon it is today, Electronic Arts was in the process of making a MMO based on its world. However, it appears it was cancelled in the early 2000s because the company didn't believe "that the IP would have a shelf life longer than a year or two."

As reported by Polygon, EA's former director of product marketing Kim Salzer discussed this Harry Potter MMO that was in development between 2000 and 2003 (before the release of the series' sixth book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released!) on a Twitch stream that her current firm - Orignal Gamer Life - hosted.

Imagine a Harry Potter MMO...

It almost happened but #EA cancelled it. They did the research and even a beta version of the game, but didn't think Harry Potter was going to be around more than a few years.#harrypotter #hogwarts #voldemort #mmo #metaverse #multiverse pic.twitter.com/bt5u6YQ2oe

— OGL: Original Gamer Life (@OGLifeOGL) December 22, 2021

“Sometimes, I just don’t know where to start,” said Salzer, when she was asked about which cancelled game she was most upset about during her time in the games industry. “But a big one for me, because I was so personally involved in it and it’s such a huge IP that has lived on, is a online massively multiplayer game for Harry Potter.”

Before it was Expelliarmus-ed (you're welcome), the team behind it had a working beta and had done all the necessary research. EA was even in the process of working on systems to mail out prizes and ribbons to players in what Salzer called a "combination offline/online experience."

While she didn't go into too much detail, she did confirm that it was ultimately cancelled before making it to the finish line, in part due to the uncertainty surrounding the lasting power of the Harry Potter IP.

"EA was going through some changes at that time,” said Salzer, “and they just didn’t know, or believe enough, that that IP would have a shelf life longer than a year or two.”

Salzar left EA around the time of the first two Harry Potter films, and while EA would go on to publish more than 10 titles based on its magical world, the MMO never saw the light of day.

In 2022, Warner Bros. now is in charge of the Wizarding World franchise - which includes Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - and that includes the video game rights through its Portkey Games label.

While there may not be an MMO in the future, Harry Potter fans do have Hogwarts Legacy to look forward to in 2022.

Announced at September 2020's PS5 event, Hogwarts Legacy is set before the events of the Harry Potter books and takes place in the late 1800s, where your custom character becomes the star of its story.

It was originally set to be released in 2021, but WB Games delayed the game to 2022 to give "the game the time it needs."

Hogwarts Legacy is also surrounded by controversy due to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments on Twitter and beyond.

Following these comments, WB Games confirmed that J.K. Rowling is "not directly involved" with the upcoming RPG, and a report has even said that the RPG will allow for transgender characters.

For more, check out our look at how Harry Potter fans are coping with J.K. Rowling.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Before the Harry Potter franchise became the global phenomenon it is today, Electronic Arts was in the process of making a MMO based on its world. However, it appears it was cancelled in the early 2000s because the company didn't believe "that the IP would have a shelf life longer than a year or two."

As reported by Polygon, EA's former director of product marketing Kim Salzer discussed this Harry Potter MMO that was in development between 2000 and 2003 (before the release of the series' sixth book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released!) on a Twitch stream that her current firm - Orignal Gamer Life - hosted.

Imagine a Harry Potter MMO...

It almost happened but #EA cancelled it. They did the research and even a beta version of the game, but didn't think Harry Potter was going to be around more than a few years.#harrypotter #hogwarts #voldemort #mmo #metaverse #multiverse pic.twitter.com/bt5u6YQ2oe

— OGL: Original Gamer Life (@OGLifeOGL) December 22, 2021

“Sometimes, I just don’t know where to start,” said Salzer, when she was asked about which cancelled game she was most upset about during her time in the games industry. “But a big one for me, because I was so personally involved in it and it’s such a huge IP that has lived on, is a online massively multiplayer game for Harry Potter.”

Before it was Expelliarmus-ed (you're welcome), the team behind it had a working beta and had done all the necessary research. EA was even in the process of working on systems to mail out prizes and ribbons to players in what Salzer called a "combination offline/online experience."

While she didn't go into too much detail, she did confirm that it was ultimately cancelled before making it to the finish line, in part due to the uncertainty surrounding the lasting power of the Harry Potter IP.

"EA was going through some changes at that time,” said Salzer, “and they just didn’t know, or believe enough, that that IP would have a shelf life longer than a year or two.”

Salzar left EA around the time of the first two Harry Potter films, and while EA would go on to publish more than 10 titles based on its magical world, the MMO never saw the light of day.

In 2022, Warner Bros. now is in charge of the Wizarding World franchise - which includes Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - and that includes the video game rights through its Portkey Games label.

While there may not be an MMO in the future, Harry Potter fans do have Hogwarts Legacy to look forward to in 2022.

Announced at September 2020's PS5 event, Hogwarts Legacy is set before the events of the Harry Potter books and takes place in the late 1800s, where your custom character becomes the star of its story.

It was originally set to be released in 2021, but WB Games delayed the game to 2022 to give "the game the time it needs."

Hogwarts Legacy is also surrounded by controversy due to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's transphobic comments on Twitter and beyond.

Following these comments, WB Games confirmed that J.K. Rowling is "not directly involved" with the upcoming RPG, and a report has even said that the RPG will allow for transgender characters.

For more, check out our look at how Harry Potter fans are coping with J.K. Rowling.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

As we begin the start of a brand new year lasting 365 days, imagine living on a planet where the entire year lasts just 16 hours. That's the case on the exoplanet TOI-2109b, which astronomers say is destined to keep getting closer and closer to its star, until the planet disappears.

Reported by Space.com, astronomers say this is now the shortest known orbit of a planet, and it's getting faster. TOI-2109b is an exoplanet, which is comparable in size to Jupiter. Scientists call them "hot Jupiters" because they are built like Jupiter but orbit closer to their star. This planet is just 1.5 million miles from its star, while Mercury, the closest planet to our sun, pales in comparison at 36 million miles.

TESS scans for dips in darkness, which signify planets blocking their stars, representing orbit. In this case, the dips in darkness came every 16 hours, which clued astronomers into the record-setting orbit.

This exoplanet is five times as massive and one-third larger than our Jupiter, though, and the star it orbits is twice as large as our sun. It's also the second-hottest known exoplanet, with a temperature of 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

And, its 16 hour-long year is accelerating. Scientists say the planet is getting closer to its star at a rate between 10 and 750 milliseconds per year. This still puts the planet's demise at an estimated 10 million years away. Astronomers plan to check in with the planet in the spring of next year to try and learn more about its eventual demise.

The planet is 855 lightyears away from Earth, in the Hercules constellation. It was discovered thanks to NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which has been orbiting Earth since April 2018.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

As we begin the start of a brand new year lasting 365 days, imagine living on a planet where the entire year lasts just 16 hours. That's the case on the exoplanet TOI-2109b, which astronomers say is destined to keep getting closer and closer to its star, until the planet disappears.

Reported by Space.com, astronomers say this is now the shortest known orbit of a planet, and it's getting faster. TOI-2109b is an exoplanet, which is comparable in size to Jupiter. Scientists call them "hot Jupiters" because they are built like Jupiter but orbit closer to their star. This planet is just 1.5 million miles from its star, while Mercury, the closest planet to our sun, pales in comparison at 36 million miles.

TESS scans for dips in darkness, which signify planets blocking their stars, representing orbit. In this case, the dips in darkness came every 16 hours, which clued astronomers into the record-setting orbit.

This exoplanet is five times as massive and one-third larger than our Jupiter, though, and the star it orbits is twice as large as our sun. It's also the second-hottest known exoplanet, with a temperature of 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

And, its 16 hour-long year is accelerating. Scientists say the planet is getting closer to its star at a rate between 10 and 750 milliseconds per year. This still puts the planet's demise at an estimated 10 million years away. Astronomers plan to check in with the planet in the spring of next year to try and learn more about its eventual demise.

The planet is 855 lightyears away from Earth, in the Hercules constellation. It was discovered thanks to NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which has been orbiting Earth since April 2018.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale creator Greg Lobanov has teased that he and his team are officially working on a new game with a GIF of an adorable, hopping two-legged fox creature that I'd like to be my new best friend.

Lobanov shared the news on Twitter just one minute before 2021 became 2022, saying this announcement was a long time coming.

been waiting a long time to let everyone know:

I'm working on something new with the chicory team :)

I can't wait to talk more about it!!!!! hope to share details in 2022 pic.twitter.com/jcWFXetjvs

— Greg Lobanov (@GregLobanov) January 1, 2022

"Been waiting a long time to let everyone know: I'm working on something new with the chicory team =)," Lobanov wrote. "I can't wait to talk more about it!!!!! hope to share details in 2022."

The accompanying GIF of the aforementioned fox creature - which may or may not be part of the new game - is also featured on a job page for a Creature Concept Artist for this new project.

The job description itself gives a few more teases as to what this game may be, as this role is meant for someone that has, among other things, 'designs with lots of character/personality" and "interest in & inspiration from real world animals/biology."

For those who have played Chicory: A Colorful Tale - the game we awarded as our Best Puzzle Game of 2021 - these words will sound familiar. Chicory was a beautiful and charming game that features a cast of wonderful, anthropomorphic animals, and this new project very well may be a sequel or a new game in the style and feel of it.

In our Chicory review, we said that "it is a pristine little adventure with fun puzzles, a surprisingly rich paint mechanic, and a story that's disarmingly real, difficult, and heartfelt."

If you have yet to try Chicory, it is currently available on PS5, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale creator Greg Lobanov has teased that he and his team are officially working on a new game with a GIF of an adorable, hopping two-legged fox creature that I'd like to be my new best friend.

Lobanov shared the news on Twitter just one minute before 2021 became 2022, saying this announcement was a long time coming.

been waiting a long time to let everyone know:

I'm working on something new with the chicory team :)

I can't wait to talk more about it!!!!! hope to share details in 2022 pic.twitter.com/jcWFXetjvs

— Greg Lobanov (@GregLobanov) January 1, 2022

"Been waiting a long time to let everyone know: I'm working on something new with the chicory team =)," Lobanov wrote. "I can't wait to talk more about it!!!!! hope to share details in 2022."

The accompanying GIF of the aforementioned fox creature - which may or may not be part of the new game - is also featured on a job page for a Creature Concept Artist for this new project.

The job description itself gives a few more teases as to what this game may be, as this role is meant for someone that has, among other things, 'designs with lots of character/personality" and "interest in & inspiration from real world animals/biology."

For those who have played Chicory: A Colorful Tale - the game we awarded as our Best Puzzle Game of 2021 - these words will sound familiar. Chicory was a beautiful and charming game that features a cast of wonderful, anthropomorphic animals, and this new project very well may be a sequel or a new game in the style and feel of it.

In our Chicory review, we said that "it is a pristine little adventure with fun puzzles, a surprisingly rich paint mechanic, and a story that's disarmingly real, difficult, and heartfelt."

If you have yet to try Chicory, it is currently available on PS5, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

GoldenEye 007, the legendary N64 game from Rare that is one of the most beloved multiplayer experiences for many around the world, may be getting a new life on Xbox after Achievements have been spotted for the game online.

TrueAchievements, a website that tracks Xbox Achievement activity, recently picked up an Achievement list for Goldeneye 007 which had never been seen before. There are 55 Achievements that are worth a total of 1,000 Gamerscore, and that is another hint this may be a new port.

As many may remember, there was an updated version of GoldenEye 007 being developed for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade that was just about finished before it was canceled due to licensing issues. Back then, XBLA games had a limit of 200 Gamerscore, so seeing GoldenEye 007 with 1,000 Gamerscore is an interesting development.

Furthermore, TrueAchievements' website also reveals that there are only two Xbox accounts that have earned any of these achievements - BIGsheep and xtinamcgrath. By searching for these names, it appears that BIGsheep and xtinamcgrath are Rare employees James Thomas and Christina McGrath.

While this doesn't necessarily mean that a new port of GoldenEye 007 on Xbox consoles is imminent, it is an exciting prospect for fans as we begin the new year.

In February 2021, the game files for Rare's cancelled GoldenEye 007 remaster were shared on the internet, just a month after a full playthrough of the game's campaign was released on YouTube. The demo showed that you could swap between old and new visuals like the Halo remasters and that it could run at 60FPS and can be played in 4K.

While we wait to learn more about this possible port of GoldenEye 007, check out the officially announced Project 007 - a new James Bond game coming from Hitman developer IO Interactive.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

GoldenEye 007, the legendary N64 game from Rare that is one of the most beloved multiplayer experiences for many around the world, may be getting a new life on Xbox after Achievements have been spotted for the game online.

TrueAchievements, a website that tracks Xbox Achievement activity, recently picked up an Achievement list for Goldeneye 007 which had never been seen before. There are 55 Achievements that are worth a total of 1,000 Gamerscore, and that is another hint this may be a new port.

As many may remember, there was an updated version of GoldenEye 007 being developed for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade that was just about finished before it was canceled due to licensing issues. Back then, XBLA games had a limit of 200 Gamerscore, so seeing GoldenEye 007 with 1,000 Gamerscore is an interesting development.

Furthermore, TrueAchievements' website also reveals that there are only two Xbox accounts that have earned any of these achievements - BIGsheep and xtinamcgrath. By searching for these names, it appears that BIGsheep and xtinamcgrath are Rare employees James Thomas and Christina McGrath.

While this doesn't necessarily mean that a new port of GoldenEye 007 on Xbox consoles is imminent, it is an exciting prospect for fans as we begin the new year.

In February 2021, the game files for Rare's cancelled GoldenEye 007 remaster were shared on the internet, just a month after a full playthrough of the game's campaign was released on YouTube. The demo showed that you could swap between old and new visuals like the Halo remasters and that it could run at 60FPS and can be played in 4K.

While we wait to learn more about this possible port of GoldenEye 007, check out the officially announced Project 007 - a new James Bond game coming from Hitman developer IO Interactive.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda has begun 2022 by writing a New Year's letter that is focused on the companies growing focus on NFTs, blockchain games, and the metaverse.

Matsuda began the letter by wishing everyone a Happy New Year and saying how the metaverse was "a hot topic in 2021, inspiring a lively global conversation first about what the metaverse is and then about what sort of business opportunities it presents."

He then noted Facebook's name change to Meta and how that was just one piece of "evidence that the concept is not a mere buzzword but here to stay" and that this attention caused 2021 to be dubbed the "Metaverse Year."

Thanks to advances in "extended reality (XR) technology, the increasing prevalence of the cloud and 5G, more sophisticated blockchain technology, and other technological evolutions that have taken place in a variety of fields over the past several years," Matsuda believes that the metaverse will "likely see a meaningful transition to a business phase in 2022, with a wide range of services appearing on the scene."

"As this abstract concept begins to take concrete shape in the form of product and service offerings, I am hoping that it will bring about changes that have a more substantial impact on our business as well," Matsuda said.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, were the next topic of discussion and Matsuda began by saying that "2021 not only as 'Metaverse: Year One,' but also as 'NFTs: Year One' given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base."

Although Matsuda agrees there that there are unfortunate "examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided," he believes the ship will right itself in time.

"This, obviously, is not an ideal situation, but I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, with the value of each available content corrected to their true estimated worth, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods," Matsuda said.

As for how this is related to Square Enix, Matsuda reiterated that, in May 2020, the company behind the Final Fantasy series, the upcoming Forspoken, and much more, "identified AI, the cloud, and blockchain games as new domains on which we should focus our investments, and we have subsequently been aggressive in our R&D efforts and investments in those areas."

WIth AI, the focus has been "primarily on natural language processing, world models, and simulation technology."

"These efforts will help us develop the games that we release into the world and enhance their overall quality, but that is not all," Matsuda explained. "By incorporating the output of these R&D efforts into virtual avatars and elsewhere, we plan to apply that output to a wide variety of content and provide the relevant technology to other companies, with a view to leveraging these R&D efforts across our entire Digital Entertainment business."

On the cloud front, Square Enix is exploring this tech from "two primary perspectives, the first being leveraging cloud technologies to distribute content and the second being developing content that offers customers new forms of excitement enabled by the cloud’s attributes."

Lastly, blockchain games are discussed, which are different from traditional games that have "a unidirectional flow whereby creators such as ourselves provide a game to the consumers that play them."

"By contrast, blockchain games, which have emerged from their infancy and are at this very moment entering a growth phase, are built upon the premise of a token economy and therefore hold the potential to enable self-sustaining game growth," Matsuda said. "The driver that most enables such self-sustaining game growth is diversity, both in how people engage with interactive content like games, and in their motivations for doing so. Advances in token economies will likely add further momentum to this trend of diversification. I see the “play to earn” concept that has people so excited as a prime example of this."

While he acknowledges those players who "play to have fun" and "currently form the majority" have "reservations towards these new trends," he also notes there is another side to that coin - players who "play to contribute" - that is worth exploring.

"However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to 'play to contribute,' by which I mean to help make the game more exciting," Matsuda said. "Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit.

"This fact is not unrelated to the limitations of existing UGC (user-generated content). UGC has been brought into being solely because of individuals’ desire for self-expression and not because any explicit incentive existed to reward them for their creative efforts. I see this as one reason that there haven’t been as many major game-changing content that were user generated as one would expect."

With the advances in token economies, Matsuda says "users will be provided with explicit incentives, thereby resulting not only in greater consistency in their motivation, but also creating a tangible upside to their creative efforts."

"I believe that this will lead to more people devoting themselves to such efforts and to greater possibilities of games growing in exciting ways," Matsuda says. "From having fun to earning to contributing, a wide variety of motivations will inspire people to engage with games and connect with one another. It is blockchain-based tokens that will enable this."

All of this and more has led to Matsuda saying that this ecosystem "lies at the heart of what I refer to as 'decentralized gaming'" and is one he hopes becomes a major trend in gaming in the future.

"By designing viable token economies into our games, we will enable self-sustaining game growth. It is precisely this sort of ecosystem that lies at the heart of what I refer to as 'decentralized gaming,' and I hope that this becomes a major trend in gaming going forward," Matsuda said. "If we refer to the one-way relationship where game players and game providers are linked by games that are finished products as 'centralized gaming' to contrast it with decentralized gaming, then incorporating decentralized games into our portfolio in addition to centralized games will be a major strategic theme for us starting in 2022.

"The basic and elemental technologies to enable blockchain games already exist, and there has been an increase in the societal literacy and acceptance of crypto assets in the past few years. We will keep a close eye on societal shifts in this space while listening to the many groups of users that populate it, and ramp up our efforts to develop a business accordingly, with an eye to potentially issuing our own tokens in the future."

In conclusion, Matsuda believes, against the backdrop of changing lifestyles and the Square Enix learning to live and function during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that "the new technologies and concepts that I have discussed and the changes that they bring to our business environment will provide us with numerous opportunities to enrich people’s lives through digital entertainment, which is at the core of our business."

"This at the same time means that we are seeing the beginnings of further leaps forward for our business," Matsuda concluded. "We remain committed to creating, developing, and providing world-class content, and we will contribute to the happiness of society and its people by offering new forms of excitement. I wish you all the best for 2022."

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda has begun 2022 by writing a New Year's letter that is focused on the companies growing focus on NFTs, blockchain games, and the metaverse.

Matsuda began the letter by wishing everyone a Happy New Year and saying how the metaverse was "a hot topic in 2021, inspiring a lively global conversation first about what the metaverse is and then about what sort of business opportunities it presents."

He then noted Facebook's name change to Meta and how that was just one piece of "evidence that the concept is not a mere buzzword but here to stay" and that this attention caused 2021 to be dubbed the "Metaverse Year."

Thanks to advances in "extended reality (XR) technology, the increasing prevalence of the cloud and 5G, more sophisticated blockchain technology, and other technological evolutions that have taken place in a variety of fields over the past several years," Matsuda believes that the metaverse will "likely see a meaningful transition to a business phase in 2022, with a wide range of services appearing on the scene."

"As this abstract concept begins to take concrete shape in the form of product and service offerings, I am hoping that it will bring about changes that have a more substantial impact on our business as well," Matsuda said.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, were the next topic of discussion and Matsuda began by saying that "2021 not only as 'Metaverse: Year One,' but also as 'NFTs: Year One' given that it was a year in which NFTs were met with a great deal of enthusiasm by a rapidly expanding user base."

Although Matsuda agrees there that there are unfortunate "examples here and there of overheated trading in NFT-based digital goods with somewhat speculative overtones, regardless of the observed value of the content provided," he believes the ship will right itself in time.

"This, obviously, is not an ideal situation, but I expect to see an eventual right-sizing in digital goods deals as they become more commonplace among the general public, with the value of each available content corrected to their true estimated worth, and I look for them to become as familiar as dealings in physical goods," Matsuda said.

As for how this is related to Square Enix, Matsuda reiterated that, in May 2020, the company behind the Final Fantasy series, the upcoming Forspoken, and much more, "identified AI, the cloud, and blockchain games as new domains on which we should focus our investments, and we have subsequently been aggressive in our R&D efforts and investments in those areas."

WIth AI, the focus has been "primarily on natural language processing, world models, and simulation technology."

"These efforts will help us develop the games that we release into the world and enhance their overall quality, but that is not all," Matsuda explained. "By incorporating the output of these R&D efforts into virtual avatars and elsewhere, we plan to apply that output to a wide variety of content and provide the relevant technology to other companies, with a view to leveraging these R&D efforts across our entire Digital Entertainment business."

On the cloud front, Square Enix is exploring this tech from "two primary perspectives, the first being leveraging cloud technologies to distribute content and the second being developing content that offers customers new forms of excitement enabled by the cloud’s attributes."

Lastly, blockchain games are discussed, which are different from traditional games that have "a unidirectional flow whereby creators such as ourselves provide a game to the consumers that play them."

"By contrast, blockchain games, which have emerged from their infancy and are at this very moment entering a growth phase, are built upon the premise of a token economy and therefore hold the potential to enable self-sustaining game growth," Matsuda said. "The driver that most enables such self-sustaining game growth is diversity, both in how people engage with interactive content like games, and in their motivations for doing so. Advances in token economies will likely add further momentum to this trend of diversification. I see the “play to earn” concept that has people so excited as a prime example of this."

While he acknowledges those players who "play to have fun" and "currently form the majority" have "reservations towards these new trends," he also notes there is another side to that coin - players who "play to contribute" - that is worth exploring.

"However, I believe that there will be a certain number of people whose motivation is to 'play to contribute,' by which I mean to help make the game more exciting," Matsuda said. "Traditional gaming has offered no explicit incentive to this latter group of people, who were motivated strictly by such inconsistent personal feelings as goodwill and volunteer spirit.

"This fact is not unrelated to the limitations of existing UGC (user-generated content). UGC has been brought into being solely because of individuals’ desire for self-expression and not because any explicit incentive existed to reward them for their creative efforts. I see this as one reason that there haven’t been as many major game-changing content that were user generated as one would expect."

With the advances in token economies, Matsuda says "users will be provided with explicit incentives, thereby resulting not only in greater consistency in their motivation, but also creating a tangible upside to their creative efforts."

"I believe that this will lead to more people devoting themselves to such efforts and to greater possibilities of games growing in exciting ways," Matsuda says. "From having fun to earning to contributing, a wide variety of motivations will inspire people to engage with games and connect with one another. It is blockchain-based tokens that will enable this."

All of this and more has led to Matsuda saying that this ecosystem "lies at the heart of what I refer to as 'decentralized gaming'" and is one he hopes becomes a major trend in gaming in the future.

"By designing viable token economies into our games, we will enable self-sustaining game growth. It is precisely this sort of ecosystem that lies at the heart of what I refer to as 'decentralized gaming,' and I hope that this becomes a major trend in gaming going forward," Matsuda said. "If we refer to the one-way relationship where game players and game providers are linked by games that are finished products as 'centralized gaming' to contrast it with decentralized gaming, then incorporating decentralized games into our portfolio in addition to centralized games will be a major strategic theme for us starting in 2022.

"The basic and elemental technologies to enable blockchain games already exist, and there has been an increase in the societal literacy and acceptance of crypto assets in the past few years. We will keep a close eye on societal shifts in this space while listening to the many groups of users that populate it, and ramp up our efforts to develop a business accordingly, with an eye to potentially issuing our own tokens in the future."

In conclusion, Matsuda believes, against the backdrop of changing lifestyles and the Square Enix learning to live and function during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that "the new technologies and concepts that I have discussed and the changes that they bring to our business environment will provide us with numerous opportunities to enrich people’s lives through digital entertainment, which is at the core of our business."

"This at the same time means that we are seeing the beginnings of further leaps forward for our business," Matsuda concluded. "We remain committed to creating, developing, and providing world-class content, and we will contribute to the happiness of society and its people by offering new forms of excitement. I wish you all the best for 2022."

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.