Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog are lashing out at Sega for its recent announcement of supporting non-fungible tokens, AKA NFTs. Fans have been flooding the replies of a recent tweet regarding Sega's potentially environmentally harmful NFT plans, pointing out a lot of hypocrisy as the Sonic franchise always had themes of environmentalism within it. Now, Sega seems to be going against its own messaging of its games.
NFTs are a rather controversial subject as of late. Essentially, NFTs are a way of "owning" digital media, whether it be art, GIFs, or even tweets, through blockchain. NFTs can also be resold, allowing the owner to directly profit from a single work over time. The ins and outs of it can get a bit complicated when trying to break it all down, but it's been an incredibly lucrative opportunity for people like artists. On paper, it sounds great, but the Earth's climate reportedly pays the ultimate price. The whole process requires a disproportionate amount of energy (and therefore fossil fuel consumption). According to research by computational artist Memo Akten, the carbon footprint for the creation of a single average NFT is equivalent to driving 500 miles in a gasoline-powered car.
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With Sega's announcement that it will be entering the world of NFTs, the incredibly passionate Sonic fanbase retaliated. They note the irony of Sonic The Hedgehog's eco-friendly themes, suggesting there's a massive disconnect from the message of Sega's games and their creators. One fan poignantly noted that the official Sonic Twitter page recently celebrated Earth Day by telling fans to pick up trash and conserve electricity, going on to say that it seems Sega of America and Sega Japan don't seem to effectively communicate despite being branches of the same company. Whether or not Sega will care enough to actually listen to its fanbase is a mystery, but it certainly isn't a good look for the company.
Sega isn't the only gaming-related company pursuing NFTs either. Square Enix plans on utilizing NFTs for its Million Arthur series, yet another major sign of irony given the incredibly huge and important theme of environmentalism in Final Fantasy VII and other entries. Whether these companies don't actually understand their own games, the carbon footprint of NFTs, or if they just don't care either way continues to be unclear.
NFTs have won very few people over recently and have proved more controversial than anticipated, but the scheme is likely still a major money maker. It's hard to say whether or not gaming publishers like Sega will ride out the NFT bandwagon in the name of extra revenue or if they'll steer clear out of fear of bad press. There are certainly some less favored publishers known for their money-making schemes that could jump in on this action with virtually no changes to their reputation, but every potential NFT seller should first consider if their profit margins are worth damaging the environment they live in.
Sources: Sega, franciscoluis04, HP_Zoner, UltimaShadowX, VioletMadness7