Ubisoft to continue pursuing NFTs despite backlash

Ubisoft plans to continue to invest in NFTs, despite the hugely negative backlash to the Ubisoft Quartz system it recently announced.

In an interview with Decrypt, the publisher discussed the fan backlash to the Quartz reveal, and called it a “major change” for fans.

“We have received a lot of feedback since the announcement, and we hear both the encouragement and the concerns,” said Didier Genevois, Ubisoft’s blockchain technical director. “We understand where the sentiment towards the technology comes from, and we need to keep taking it into consideration every step of the way.”

Genevois continued: “This experiment is meant to understand how the value proposition of decentralization can be received and embraced by our players. We know it is a major change that will take time, but we will stay true to our three principles.”

A number of Ubisoft developers are extremely unhappy with the company’s decision to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its games, according to a recent report.

Kotaku claims to have been shown messages posted on Ubisoft’s internal social media hub, MANA, in which staff are showing confusion and disappointment over the recent announcement of the Ubisoft Quartz platform.

One developer confused by the plans reportedly wrote: “I still don’t really understand the ‘problem’ being solved here. Is it really worth the (extremely) negative publicity this will cause?”

Another staff member not in favour of the platform added: “How can you look at private property, speculation, artificial scarcity, and egoism, then say ‘yes, this is good, I want that, let’s put it in art’?”

Ubisoft Quartz is billed by Ubisoft as “the first platform for playable and energy-efficient NFTs in AAA games”.

Launching this month in beta with the PC version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, it enables players to acquire ‘Digits’, which are collectable in-game vehicles, weapons and pieces of equipment.

Digits will be released as part of limited ‘Editions’, each made up of a fixed number of cosmetic items.

Ubisoft said: “Digits are a new way to experience cosmetic items, combining the fun of playing with AAA quality assets and the thrill of owning NFTs that represent unique, collectable pieces of Ubisoft game worlds.”

Further reading

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Ubisoft’s NFT announcement gets more than 95% dislikes on YouTube

The Ubisoft Quartz platform has been met with almost universal displeasure

Each Digit has its own serial number which can be viewed by other players in-game and comes with a certificate of ownership. Players will be able to sell Digits on third-party platforms outside of the Ubisoft ecosystem.

Quartz has been met with overwhelming backlash from players, with the announce trailer on the official Ubisoft North America YouTube channel receiving more than 95% dislikes.