Symbiogenesis: By Choosing to Be a Finite Experience, Square Enix's Web3 Title Could Have Been a Hit

With iconic role-playing game (RPG) titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest under its belt, Square Enix's Web3 venture, Symbiogenesis, could have been a hit.

With iconic role-playing game (RPG) titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, Square Enix could have been a hit.

However, launching one of its ventures, Symbiogenesis, amid peak non-fungible token (NFT) fatigue in 2023, the famed publisher has failed to live up to the already low expectations of players.

Now, the “collectible art project” is set to officially end in July 2025, marking yet another abandoned Web3 title.

Announced in 2022 and launched later in 2023, Square Enix’s Web3 project, Symbiogenesis, was met with skepticism from the broader video gaming community.

This is a testament to the peak of NFT fatigue that arrived in 2023, which was fueled by rugpulls, scams and the broader crypto winter.

It began as a “game,” where its community could purchase NFT-based characters and unravel a mystery across a multi-chapter fantasy adventure.

Players had 10,000 NFT characters with game utility to choose from, and with a famed publisher, like Square Enix, making the venture, its underwhelming reception may come as a surprise to many.

Unlike legacy Web3 titles, such as Axie Infinity, or modern AAA titles, like Off The Grid, Symbiogenesis lacked any financial incentives for players as much as it did gameplay.

Aside from buying and selling the game’s characters and items, which, at their peak, could sometimes sell for a few thousand dollars, the game offered little return on investment.

The “gameplay”—if it can be described as such—consisted of a point-and-click treasure hunt across the game’s setting, the Floating Island.

Players earned points, unlocked story content, crafted and enhanced items and ranked up through the leaderboards.

Even compared to Square Enix’s rich mobile offerings, the game’s quality fell way below that of even the most mediocre of Web3 titles at the time. At best, it could be viewed as an experiment rather than a fully developed product.

Oddly, in the game’s community-driven, cumulative effort to unlock the story’s ending, just three players will be selected to play the final conclusive mission and shape the story’s outcome. Meanwhile, everyone else is merely an observer.

However, Symbiogenesis was never billed as a play-to-earn title with airdrops or an indefinite lifespan.

From the very beginning, it said it would only ever have six chapters. But presumably, players and NFT holders were frustrated when it was announced that after finishing the story, the game would cease to be.

The game’s sixth and final chapter is set to conclude on July 31, 2025, as will its active development and server support.

This is unfortunate, as new in-game features and activities, like a new game mode called "Divina Florris" and the addition of more artifacts and synthesis recipes, are slated to arrive in April or May.

But twists and changes like this often kill a Web3 gaming project.

It’s hard enough to draw crypto users into NFT-based gaming experiences, let alone the average gamer.

So when titles, whether offering a financial incentive or not, make changes to a product that people have invested time and money into, trust is quickly lost.

As evidenced by pretty much every Web3 gaming phenomenon from Axie Infinity to Hamster Kombat, security flaws and last-minute adjustments can devastate a game’s player count.

Despite its intention to be a finite experience, the “art project” arguably slipped up when it began gamifying its content and expanding the number and types of in-game NFTs players could purchase.

The publisher is guilty of jumping on the collectibles bandwagon in 2023 with its Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary trading card series, which was announced at the time of NFT fatigue.

But, it’s also fair to say that Symbiogenesis wasn’t a predatory NFT title boasting returns and infinite utility. It had its limitations and, as an experiment, succeeded to some degree.

This is a positive development for the video games industry, as many firms shy away from having a direct hand in such initiatives.

But Square Enix has been an active player in the Web3 gaming space, providing funding for several Web3 titles, such as The Sandbox, as well as partnering with development studios and networks, like Elixir and HyperPlay.

Square’s ongoing foray into Web3 gaming may worry some gamers, however, so far, the company is yet to commit one of Web3 gaming’s many sins.