Last year, Ubisoft rather unceremoniously launched Ubisoft Quartz, their blockchain-powered push into NFTs (or non-fungible tokens). The backlash from the community was immediate and swift, with a massive 96% downvote on the YouTube reveal trailer for it. Ubisoft would later delist the video, but now, an executive seems to be blaming players for the program’s poor performance.
Speaking to Finder recently, Strategic Innovations Lab VP, Nicholas Pouard, stated that fans simply “don’t get it”, indirectly implying that it was our fault for the NFT push not doing so well, at least to Ubisoft’s standards. Ubisoft Quartz had a rocky launch and unenthusiastic response from the public, to say the least, reportedly only managing to make around $400 back in December – ouch.
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Pouard commented on players’ lack of interest in Quartz and NFTs (possibly knowing full well that it remains a hotly debated and largely resented topic online):
“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 [at Ubisoft] 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.”
Ubisoft continues to support NFTs as one of the few major gaming publishers in the industry pushing it. Alongside Ubisoft, companies like SEGA, Square Enix and Konami have all expressed interest or have already begun dabbling in NFTs, though reception towards those have been equally and overwhelmingly criticized. Ubisoft Quartz is currently available under Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which was the unfortunate guinea pig chosen to test the NFT waters.
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Source: Finder
