Sega files trademark for Sega NFTs

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Despite CEO's recent assurance that it wouldn't be pursued if it was "perceived as simple money-making".

Sega's projected NFT logos.
(Image credit: Sega)

In November 2021, Sega's Q2 results mentioned that the Japanese publisher planned to team up with Microsoft to develop cloud-powered 'super games' as well as making "investment in new fields such as NFT." It didn't take too long for Sega president and CEO Haruki Satomi to sound a more, cautionary note, however, saying "if it is perceived as simple money-making, I would like to make a decision not to proceed."

Today comes the news that Sega filed two trademarks with the Japanese Patent Office in December 2021 for 'Sega NFT' (thanks, VGC). The first says 'Sega NFT' while the second is for the 'Sega Classics NFT Collection.' The latter will probably be similar to what Konami recently did with Castlevania but the bigger question is whether this indicates a wider move on Sega's part.

Sega's projected NFT logos.

(Image credit: Sega)

Sega's not alone in the industry, of course. Peter Molyneux's next game Legacy is play-to-earn and all-in on NFTs, while among the larger publishers Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda recently said the company has "an eye to potentially issuing our own tokens in the future". This was despite his acknowledgement that "some people who 'play to have fun' and who currently form the majority of players have voiced their reservations toward these new trends". GSC World cancelled plans to incorporate NFTs in Stalker 2 following a backlash, while Ubisoft's NFT scheme doesn't seem hugely popular and has been called "useless, costly, ecologically mortifying" by a French trade union to boot.

Who knows whether this is simply Sega getting ahead of a trend to be on the safe side, or an indication that some horrific Sonic Ape crossover is coming. Whatever happens it's unlikely to cross-over into Sega's actual games yet, not least because Steam has banned all games with NFTs or cryptocurrency.

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."