Gamers Revolt Against Ubisoft’s Move Towards NFTs, Calling It ‘Exploitative’

Ubisoft has received a massive backlash from the gaming community after announcing plans to add non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its platform with the release of the latest title in the Ghost Recon series. The announcement has since been quietly withdrawn.

Ubisoft has announced the release of a new NFT offering called Digits. These in-game items will commence with the launch of the new Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and are marketed as digital collectibles that are completely cosmetic. The NFTs will be released in limited editions featuring an engraved serial number on the item that also serves as its cryptographic ID. The integration marks the first time a mainstream video game has added NFTs to its in-game economy.

Ubisoft Quartz an NFT Platform

The gaming industry has played with the idea for some time now and has met with many mixed opinions. EA has called NFTs “the future of our industry”, while Xbox boss Phil Spencer is worried they might be “exploitative”. Steam, the world’s biggest gaming platform, has completely banned NFTs and blockchain games.

The Digits come with a new wallet called Quartz, a platform where players can buy and sell in-game NFTs even on third-party markets. The platform will run on the Tezos blockchain, an energy-efficient Layer 1 solution, as part of its carbon-friendly campaign. Ubisoft’s partnership with Tezos to run a validator node also makes much more sense now after the launch of Quartz and the coming AAA-NFT titles.

Ubisoft's second Ghost Recon NFT can now be claimed by people who've played the game on PC for 600+ hours.

Presumably the 600+ will jack up the price at which people who claim them will be willing to sell

Ubisoft's FAQ says it gets a percentage cut of sale value "in some cases" pic.twitter.com/DjU7eCOZz3

— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) December 12, 2021

Ubisoft has stated it will take a cut of NFT sales “in some cases”, making the gaming community feel it’s another moneymaking ploy. It seems that Ubisoft wants to take the micro-transaction era of Fortnite a step further by blending this tried and tested strategy with NFT technology and using it for its platform. After Ubisoft released its NFT trailer on December 7, it gained so much pushback that the company removed it, drawing a 96 percent disapproval rating.

Gaming Community Up in Arms

Blockchain technology has exploded in the past few years with all sorts of applications in different fields. Recently NFTs have infiltrated the gaming industry in a big way and the wider community is not happy about it. Many players and designers believe they are only added as a way to make money, rather than providing players with any benefit or enhanced gaming experience.

Will players be able to transfer in-game items to the next generation of their game, or if the servers go offline will they lose all their accumulated value? And why would someone buy an in-game NFT on a third-party market if they could never use it outside the game?

Why are Ubisoft's NFTs better for your gaming experience? Well, they say it right here.

– Item has number on it
– Number belongs to you
– Until you sell it to someone else

In @Ubisoft's own words, their NFTS literally add nothing to the actual gaming experience. https://t.co/A1Hzx3A6bK pic.twitter.com/Pm9ClSUYBJ

— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) December 7, 2021

The consensus seems to be that gamers are upset that their hobbies could be moving towards crypto-based moneymaking machines rather than the fun and true experience of enjoying a game.