Japanese securities giant SBI and gaming firm Square Enix seal crypto gambling deal

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Source: Blue Planet Studio/Adobe

Japanese securities, banking and crypto heavyweight SBI and Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed gaming company Square Enix have announced a crypto gaming M&A deal. The companies have signed a stock purchase agreement for Gumi, an up-and-coming crypto and blockchain gaming company.

The deal is worth around $53 million – and SBI and Square Enix now plan to make significant headway in the crypto and blockchain gaming space.

In a press release, SBI wrote that it would “combine” Gumi’s “game development and operational know-how” with its own “token list” prowess. SBI added:

“Our goal is to identify [Gumi-developed crypto gaming] tokens on crypto-asset exchanges such as SBI VC Trade and Bitpoint Japan.

SBI owns both trading platforms. The company added that it would use its own NFT marketplace, SBI NFT, “as a secondary distribution marketplace for acquired NFTs” in games developed by Gumi.

In a press release Gumi, the Tokyo-based gaming company explained that the deal would see SBI become the largest shareholder, with 22.46% of the voting rights. Square Enix’s investment gives it a 3.01% share. Square Enix is ​​famous as the company that created Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest game titles.

What are the Square Enix and SBI Crypto Game Plans?

Earlier this year, Square Enix said focusing on traditional forms of gaming would “not be enough” to succeed in the future. The company suggested that user-created content, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and to-play crypto securities, could be included in future business models. The Gumi move could represent one of Square Enix’s first tentative moves into space.

SBI added that it is also “considering” a plan to launch “a platform dedicated to blockchain games”.

He said the “collaboration” would allow him to “develop a one-stop service” for games – a service that would allow him to “develop and distribute blockchain games”, as well as “sell and distribute tokens and NFTs”. “.

SBI has already made its own attempts in the gaming space. It operates an esports franchise – with its roster paid in XRP. Its CEO Yoshitaka Kitao is a member of Ripple’s board of directors. In 2019, he claimed that “every bank in Japan” would use XRP by 2025.

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