Square Enix said most of the money from the sale of its Development units in Europe and the US would not be reinvested in NFTs and blockchain.
On May 2, Gearbox's owner, the Embracer Group, announced a $300 million acquisition of SE's Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal, and a slew of IP's that include Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Cairn Legacy.
"The deal will kick-start new businesses by driving investments in blockchain, artificial intelligence and cloud computing," Square Enix said at the time.
However, at SE's full-year earnings release on May 13, CEO Yosuke Matsuda said the proceeds from the sale of these studios and IPS will be used to strengthen the company's core gaming business rather than investing in NFTs and blockchain.
"Rather than using the proceeds of the sale to fund new investments such as NFT and blockchain, we intend to use them primarily to support our existing work, foster solid IP and enhance our development capabilities in core digital entertainment," he said.
"Our intention is to finance our new investment areas, which are separate from our core business, and we are looking at various possibilities, including a possible CVC."
"The main purpose is to reposition our IP portfolio," Matsuda said of the decision to sell overseas studios and IP.
He added: "We have specifically re-examined our studio and portfolio of games, primarily from the perspective of strengthening our online games for the North American and European markets."
"We want to focus on creating new games that fit our strategy, including those that take advantage of new IP. Just Cause will remain our IP and we are working on new games in the series." Matsuda may be referring to just Cause Mobile, the delayed free-to-play game currently scheduled for release in 2022.
During the q&A session, Matsuda was asked if the sale of multiple U.S. and European studios meant the company would focus solely on online games for overseas markets.
"We don't necessarily focus exclusively on online games, but they do represent a key area for our future and we intend to develop games that offer greater scalability and flexibility," he responded.
Final Fantasy XIV performed well in SE's fiscal year ending March 2022. Sales of the MMO, boosted by December's "Twilight Road" expansion, helped offset declines in the company's "HD games" segment, where titles like "Pioneer" and "Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy" failed to live up to expectations.