Important news from the NFT world

Square Enix invests in an NFT game company, Beepletalks about the future of NFT art, and more.

Japanese gaming giant Square Enix, which has a positive relationship with NFTs, has invested 7 billion Japanese yen (US $52.7 million) in gaming company Gumi. With this move, they want to create "high-quality" mobile games, blockchain games, as well as joining the Metaverse initiative.

According to a translation of the company press release, this partnership will help Gumi leverage some of Square Enix's intellectual property. Gumi also hinted that the duo could team up for games and the NFT-focused market.

"We are already considering setting up a platform dedicated to blockchain games, an NFT marketplace, etc. Through this collaboration between the two companies, we will provide comprehensive services ranging from the development and distribution of blockchain games to the sale and distribution of tokens and NFTs."

The company also mentioned plans to work on a number of NFT games that will likely have metaverse integration. The Japanese company also came up with a bizarre new term, which they called "Wow-And-Earn". This concept basically refers to games built on world-famous IPs that are integrated with blockchain Play-To-Earn (P2E) features.

"In the future, we will break away from the highly speculative blockchain games of the past, creating value while having fun and considering the use of powerful content that everyone recognizes. We strongly recognize the need for game users around the world to create a blockchain game that realizes 'Wow-And-Earn'," the press release states.

Gumi also said that the team has been working night and day to develop a metaverse-focused arm as a way to establish a source of revenue beyond mobile games.

Gumi has already collaborated with Square Enix on several mobile games in the past as part of the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius series, and the two companies are partners in the blockchain gaming project Oasys, which is building its own network designed purely for P2E games.

Beeple talks about the future of NFT and art

Michael Winkelmann, a successful digital artist also known as Beeple, believes that all physical art will one day be associated with NFTs.

In a December 23 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Beeple suggested that NFTs will greatly help the art industry by providing great methods for tracking provenance and storing verifiable authentic data.

"I think all paintings will eventually have NFTs attached to them just because, again, it's a better system than just giving you a piece of paper," he said, adding:

"If you had standardization around 'this is an image,' you could have all the provenance in the metadata of that NFT. You could have [this data about] where this image was exposed. So it would all be available and searchable in the database."

For this reason, Beeple thinks the NFTs will eventually help create a standardized art database that "everyone will rely on."

Pokémon has filed a lawsuit against an NFT company

Pokémon Company International has filed a lawsuit against an Australian company for advertising an unlicensed NFT-based Pokémon game, according to documents filed with the Federal Court of Australia.

A company called "Pokémon Pty Ltd" advertised an unlicensed "meta-universal" Ethereum-based P2E game called Pokeworld.

The company has defended itself on its official website by claiming to have worked on a number of official Pokémon games in the past, while also stating that they have an official partnership with Pokémon Company International.

In court documents, however, the holders of the Pokémon intellectual property are seeking to restrict Pokémon Pty Ltd from declaring that they own any license, partnership or rights to sell NFT Pokémon.

They have also called on the company to stop marketing the game and promoting it using Pokémon trademarks on its website and social media.

HSBC trademarks

British multinational mega-bank HSBC has filed an application for virtual trademarks for its name and logo, while outlining potential plans for a range of NFTs, blockchain and metaverse products.

In the application, highlighted by licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis via Twitter on 23 December, HSBC lists a range of products and services, including virtual goods and NFT downloads, virtual world-compatible debit cards, NFT music files and video content files.

The filing appears to focus heavily on the metaverse, as it also states that it wants to provide financial advice services, entertainment in the metaverse, and other virtual worlds.

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