Square Enix's NFT game will only let 3 people play the last mission

Square Enix reveals new details on its complicated NFT game Symbiogenesis.

Square Enix isn't messing around. The publisher is going all-in on blockchain and NFTs, and has created an eye-opening roadmap for its new NFT game Symbiogenesis. The game now has a website with a dearth of information.

The website presents an RPG that's been misshapen to fit into a strange new experimental mold. These's a lot of creative ideas here but most of them probably will not catch on to any meaningful degree. The information is indeed confusing and not intuitive whatsoever, prioritizing layered mechanics and engagement-driven systems like forcing an odd co-op element to get players to work together to unlock the final mission.

But there's just one issue: Only 3 people can actually play the last mission.

Symbiogenesis has "World Missions" which are kind of global events that define that particular story. Oh, and it's classified as "narrative-unlocked NFT entertainment". This was lifted straight from the game's website:

The missions are designed with a low difficulty level to allow players to enjoy the world and main story of SYMBIOGENESIS.

They are structured into chapters. When a chapter is cleared, it becomes possible for the player to move on to the next one.

Use the Slot Release Points given out once per day to try to unlock the story held by characters, in cooperation with all players.

Progress through the main story and the missions, clear the Great Missions (boss battles).

By using the available hints, search for the items hidden throughout the Floating Continent.

Participate in the last mission (World Mission) and decide on the outcome of the story.

The first condition to participate in the World Mission is to clear all missions and main stories of all 6 chapters.

Find the hidden items: Players fulfilling a given condition will be granted access to the World Mission.

Only 3 players will be able to participate in this World Mission, leaving other players as spectators of the outcome.

Pretty simple, right? The concepts are higher-level ideas, but based on what I've read, this seems like the type of game that will have a hard time gaining traction in the West. It seems better-suited for the Japanese market.

The site confirms Symbiogenesis will have 10,000 NFTs, and that each character NFT will give you bonuses:

Owning a character NFT brings various game utilities

• You can read the story that this in-game character possesses
• By logging in once per day, you will gain member rank experience points and Slot Release points based on the number of character NFTs you own
• You are able to issue a character replica
• Clearing a chapter's Great Mission while owner a character NFT associated to the same chapter will reward you with this chapter's NFT Dragon art.

Could this be the natural evolution for microtransactions, or is Square Enix's experiment doomed to fail?

This may actually be lower risk for Square Enix due to Japan's new Metaverse Economic Zone initiative, which aims to "update Japan through the power of games." The Japanese government's Digital Agency is also prioritizing Web 3.0 development in an effort to spark new economic growth.