Ubisoft is doubling down on NFTs with decentralised storage despite severe criticism

• Gaming giant Ubisoft plans to soldier on with its plans for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) despite an unsuccessful start.
• Only around 15 of the NFTs from Ubisoft’s game Ghost Recon have reportedly been put up for reselling.
• The company’s blockchain technical director, Didier Genevois, blamed the lacklustre response to video game NFTs being a ‘major change’ that will ‘take time’ for players in an interview with Decrypt.

Ubisoft was the first major gaming company in the world to launch in-game non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and it has no plans of abandoning its mission, despite having ruffled a few feathers.

The company launched its NFT platform, Unisoft Quartz, with the game Ghost Recon The campaign was met with criticism from environmental activists who cited concerns over crypto’s impact on the climate as well as gamers who noted that the in-game NFTs, called ‘Digits’, were nothing more than cosmetic items with unique serial numbers.

After the backlash, Ubisoft isn’t quite ready to quit the game. The publisher justified the lacklustre response to its video game NFTs as just a ‘major’ change’ for players to get on board with during a conversation with Decrypt.

And, as of December 21, Ubisoft is in partnership with Aleph.im to provide decentralised storage of the company’s NFT assets.


In-game NFTs

On December 21, Liz Edwards, the senior character artist for the game Apex Legends, noted that the French gaming major, Ubisoft, had sold only 15 of its Ghost Recon NFTs since launch.


However, Ubisoft isn’t the only company that has seen value in deploying NFTs in games. In November, Electronic Arts told investors that it sees value in this technology.

"[Players] want more modalities at play inside the game, which go beyond just straight 11-on-11 football," Andrew Wilson, chief executive office (CEO) of EA, said during an earnings call. "They want more digital experiences outside the game - esports, NFTs, broader sports consumption and they want us to move really, really quickly,” he added.

The company behind games like Assassin’s Creed, Ghost Recon and more had launched the Ubisoft Quartz NFT platform earlier this month.

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