Not many people embrace NFTs (digital collectables, non-fungible tokens), but Yves Guillemot’s team doesn’t care…
We’ve already reported on the Ubisoft Quartz kerfuffle (poor reception, developers not very confident, not much demand…), and we’ve also looked around who in the games industry is interested in blockchain technology and who isn’t. But Ubisoft has already made the first move against Electronic Arts, which is also interested…
Didier Genevois, Ubisoft’s technical director for blockchain, made a somewhat cynical statement to Decrypt: “We have received a lot of feedback since the announcement, and we hear both the encouragement and the concerns. We understand where the sentiment towards the technology comes from, and we need to keep considering it every step of the way. We know it is a major change that will take time, but we will stay true to our three principles. To use technology responsibly, build a safe environment, only leverage energy-efficient proof-of-stake blockchains, and focus on meaningful value propositions for players that benefit their gaming experience.”
This comment sounds tone-deaf. Ubisoft doesn’t realize that there isn’t much interest in Quartz. True, we currently only see the numbered NFTs (which are cosmetic items only) in one game, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, at the moment. By the way, the French publisher has also signed a deal with Aleph.im, a crypto start-up, to help the Guillemot company achieve its goals.
Let’s hear Genevois again: “Our main objective with Ubisoft Quartz is to showcase the true value of decentralization to our players. Aleph.im played a key role in the realization of our vision by allowing us to go one step further and decentralize the storage of the Digits’ video asset and metadata.” And Aleph.im founder Jonathan Schemoul believes that NFT support will make games more enjoyable. He thinks most publishers will eventually propose NFT support in their games, which would be a significant breakthrough.
We have only one word to respond to this: profit-driven.
