Ubisoft joined the growing NFT marketplace last December when they announced that they would be launching Quartz, a platform for their players to buy and sell unique virtual goods for real-world currency. This ultimately raised concerns from the gaming community about the environmental effects that might be associated with their marketplace, not to mention what these virtual items might mean for players already enjoying Ubisoft’s games.
In response to the first issue, the French publisher quickly moved to counter their critics stating that Quartz would use the Tezos blockchain which bypasses the proof-of-work algorithms that require vast amounts of energy to facilitate singular transactions. It was stated that due to this, a transaction would only require the amount of energy a short video might need to stream, though both gamers and employees have continued to question the company’s push into NFTs, which remain unpopular with gamers.
Speaking with Australian outlet Finder in regards to Quartz, Nicolas Pouard who VP at Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovations Lab, attempted to paint the picture that Ubisoft is chasing a far bigger picture and that these environmental and financial conversations obscuring. He stated:
I think gamers don’t get what a digital secondary market can bring to them. For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it’s first destroying the planet and second just a tool for speculation. But what we are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they’re finished with them or they’re finished playing the game itself. So, it’s really, for them. It’s really beneficial. But they don’t get it for now.
Pouard went on to call the situation a “bit frustrating” for Ubisoft but stated that the company views this move into NFTs as a step in the right direction. It doesn’t help, however, that he then suggested the company had originally planned to launch their platform without the mention of NFTs, with the term ‘digits’ being intended, with this idea being dropped due to the companies belief that gamers would see them for what they are, because of course they would. He Stated:
We considered not speaking about the technology, but we know our players. They would’ve known Digits were NFTs. So, we decided it would not be very smart to try to hide it. Our principle is to build a safe place and safe environment with Quartz. So, we need to be transparent on what we are doing.
On the one hand, I do understand what he is alluding to. Microtransactions have become a common part of gaming and NFTs offer the ability to turn these into commodities for players which feels like a natural progression. However, the concerns that he claims are obscuring the big picture are real concerns, and it’s dubious to suggest because players have these concerns that they simply “Don’t Get it.”
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