With the debut of its Tezos-based Quartz platform, Ubisoft became the first traditional gaming firm to include in-game NFTs, although the publisher received a lot of anger from gamers. Ubisoft acknowledged the fan response today, along with announcing a new partnership with Aleph.im, calling video game NFTs a “big change” for players.
When the limited-edition digital items appeared in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint earlier this month, many fans dismissed them as worthless or a cynical trend pursuit. Others said that Ubisoft’s idea would harm the environment, even though it uses Tezos. This proof-of-stake blockchain platform is seen as a more energy-efficient alternative to Ethereum, the main NFT platform.
In any event, unlike GSC Game World with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s planned NFTs or gaming-centric messaging platform Discord with its crypto wallet integration, Ubisoft moved ahead with their ambitions. However, following backlash from users and supporters, both corporations abandoned their respective initiatives.
Ubisoft said today that it has partnered with Aleph.im to enable decentralized storage for its NFT assets, which are referred to as “Digits” on the Quartz platform. Ubisoft’s Blockchain Technical Director, Didier Genevois, responded to Decrypt’s queries concerning the inaugural in-game NFT launch earlier this month.
“Since the announcement, we’ve gotten a lot of response, and we’ve heard both the encouragement and the concerns,” he said. “We understand where people’s feelings about technology come from, and we need to keep that in mind every step of the way.”
“This experiment is aimed to explore how our players may receive and embrace the value proposition of decentralization,” Genevois stated. “We recognize that this is a significant adjustment that will take time, but we will stick to our three principles.”
Ubisoft’s guiding principles, according to Genevois, are to “use the technology responsibly” and “build a safe environment” for players to learn about NFTs, “only use energy-efficient proof-of-stake blockchains,” and “focus on meaningful value propositions for players that benefit their gaming experience.”
Embracing Aleph.im
Years of research into the crypto business led to Ubisoft’s creation of the Quartz platform. The studio behind Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance produced its own Minecraft-inspired crypto game prototype called HashCraft in 2018 and showed it off at E3, but it was never released.
Ubisoft produced a Rabbids-themed NFT effort for charity in 2020, and then One Shot League, a spinoff of Ethereum-based NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare, earlier this year. In October, Ubisoft made its first formal investment in a crypto firm, participating in Animoca Brands’ $65 million round to collaborate on NFT-centric games.
The publisher’s Entrepreneurs Lab accelerator program has also helped several crypto companies. Aleph.im, a distributed cloud network, was selected as one of the projects in May, and in July, Ubisoft agreed to manage one of Aleph.im’s core channel nodes. The announcement today formalizes Ubisoft’s developing connection with the project.
“Our main goal with Ubisoft Quartz is to show our players the genuine value of decentralization,” Genevois added. “Aleph.im was important in realizing our vision by allowing us to take it a step further and decentralize the Digits’ video asset and metadata storage.”
Ubisoft would have to save NFT metadata—or essential information about the item and its purpose—on centralized servers or via IPFS, a user-operated file-sharing network, before using Aleph.im’s platform, according to Genevois. Aleph.im’s decentralized network ensures long-term storage and allows Ubisoft to update NFT metadata over time.
On three separate days earlier this month, Ubisoft, a corporate validator for the Tezos network, released exclusive NFT drops for Ghost Recon Breakpoint—all of which were entirely free. Additional NFT drops have been hinted for 2022, but the publisher has yet to reveal NFT incorporation into any of its other popular game properties.
Despite the outcry, Ubisoft is moving forward with its NFT ambitions. At the same time, Square Enix just unveiled its crypto game plans, and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson stated that NFTs “will be an essential part of our industry’s future on a going-forward basis.”
According to Aleph.im founder Jonathan Schemoul, “most significant publishers will end up offering in-game NFT support,” highlighting potential benefits such as interoperable assets. “That would be a huge breakthrough,” he continued, “making the gaming experience even better.”