Symbiogenesis isn’t Parasite Eve, it’s Square Enix’s new NFT project

Well, there goes the hype. The harder we lift something in our heads, the harder the fall. Square Enix recently registered the name Symbiogenesis and fans of the company quickly began to predict the possibility of it being a code name for a new Parasite Eve title. The Japanese developer and publisher even leaned into the idea by hinting that Aya Brea would return to us very soon. But it turns out that’s just not true. Symbiogenesis is nothing more than Square Enix’s latest attempt to make NFTs happen.

Through a tweet, the developer revealed Symbiogenesis to be an “NFT Collectible Art Project” that’ll begin in Spring of 2023. In a related press release, Square Enix talks about how the art of this project can be used as an avatar in social media and as a character in a story that “takes place in an alternate world where the player can ’untangle’ a mystery by completing missions that revolve around questions of the monopolization and distribution of resources.” An NFT whose whole point is criticizing the concept of NFTs. We didn’t see that coming.

In any case, we’ll have to continue waiting and hoping for the return of Aya Brea, whose last appearance was in The 3rd Birthday, a loosely connected title that was released in 2010 exclusively for the PSP. It’s also clear that fans of the company will have to get used to Square Enix’s new corporate vision: NFTs and Crypto as the focus of their plans. Recently they announced a similar project, Cloud Strife NFT, that as the name implies is a digital version… of a physical figure.

Yosuke Matsuda, CEO of Square Enix, has stated again and again that the company believes that NFTs will become a huge trend, assuring that even with the fans being loudly disgusted by the concept, “the user base will expand quickly.” Maybe Parasite Eve should stay off our hands instead of becoming an NFT.