When NFT Launch Goes South: The Feud Between Ubisoft and Gamers Intensifies
The readers of our blog know that we are always portraying practically any form of introduction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or other blockchain solutions in a positive light. However, in practice, not all such initiatives go down smoothly as the example of Ubisoft’s Quartz and Digits show.
Table of contents:
- Ubisoft’s first NFT release got slammed by the gamers.
- Poulard softly dismisses the fans’ outrage.
Ubisoft’s first NFT release got slammed by the gamers
Before we delve into the story at hand, allow us to explain the context. Back in December, Ubisoft, the French video game developer that earned universal acclaim for such franchises as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s, launched the NFT project dubbed Quartz that caused an overwhelmingly negative response from the gaming community. The non-fungible tokens were integrated into one of its newer games, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, enabling players to collect the “energy-efficient” tokens called “Digits,” minted on the Tezos blockchain.
At the initial stage, the list of tokenized items includes the Wolf Enhanced Helmet A and the Wolf Enhanced Pants, obtainable in exchange for 600 hours and 100 hours of grinding, respectively. Each such digital item is unique with a serial number imprinted on it; they can be traded on a designated online marketplace. But even though everything looked pretty slick, even the announcement was met with severe negativity from the gamers who forced the studio to delist the promotional video due to it being bombarded with dislikes, with the dislike ratio eventually reaching an astounding 96%. The reason for such an aversive response was that gamers perceived it as a cheap attempt to sponge off the loyal fans while doing practically nothing to improve the game itself. Many have even urged to boycott the studio for such a money-grubbing approach.
Poulard softly dismisses the fans’ outrage
Upon receiving this backlash, Ubisoft responded through an interview given by Nicolas Poulard, the VP for Strategic Innovation Lab, to reputable gaming news outlets. Among his first words were the following,
“It was a reaction we were expecting. We know it’s not an easy concept to grasp. But Quartz is really just a first step that should lead to something bigger.”
A bigger disaster we might add as the Twitter community didn’t hesitate to respond to such a condescending attitude from the executive who was obviously voicing the position of the entire company. The thread started by the user nicknamed Kotaku began to buzz, with gamers accusing Ubisoft of disregarding their interests and turning into profit-seekers rather than focusing on the quality of their products. But given that the company had already partnered with Aleph.im, the firm that provides digital storage facilities, the integration of Quartz will persist over the course of the current year.