Recently Ubisoft announced its own Quartz NFT platform. It will sell unique cosmetic items for the company’s AAA titles. Despite Ubisoft’s ambitious plans, the announcement video received over 96% dislikes. Players, among others, do not understand why they should use blockchain to sell “cosmetics”, because there are much more reliable and time-tested technologies for this.
What is Ubisoft Quartz?
The company itself describes Quartz as a platform that will add “playable and energy-efficient NFTS” to AAA games. Cosmetic items sold as tokens will be called Digits.
The first Ubisoft game to be connected to Quartz will be Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Players will be able to buy unique “cosmetics”, including weapons, equipment and vehicles. Each item will have its own serial number, which users will be able to see during the game. Players will also receive certificates of ownership of Digits and will be able to sell them on third-party platforms.
“Over time, we have come to understand how a decentralized approach in the blockchain can make players real holders of assets in our games. The time spent, the items purchased or the content created by them will now regain value and return to their hands,” said Nicolas Pouard, vice president of Ubisoft’s innovation laboratory.
Ubisoft plans to launch a beta version of the Quartz platform on December 9 in the USA, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Brazil and Australia.
Community reaction
The Quartz announcement video was uploaded to Ubisoft North America’s official YouTube channel. However, soon the company had to hide it from public access — now you can only view it by link.
It’s all about the negative reaction of the audience. The video has gained over 10 thousand dislikes in a matter of hours. Now the video has 31 thousand negative reactions against 1.2 thousand likes (slightly less than 4% positive ratings).
“For me, this is a clear signal that you are just milking the Ghost Recon franchise literally to the last cent, putting minimal effort into the development of the game itself. You took a strong franchise and made a mockery of it,” wrote popular blogger OperatorDrewski, specializing in military shooters, in the comments.
Against the backdrop of a wave of negativity, Geoff Keighley, the organizer and host of The Game Awards, joked that there would be no news about Ubisoft Quartz at the award itself.
To those asking, no, Ubisoft Quartz will not be appearing at #TheGameAwards
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 7, 2021
Some players stressed that blockchain technologies are not needed for the functioning of the elements presented by Ubisoft. As an example, they cited Steam and the “cosmetics” that Valve sells in its online games. “In Team Fortress 2, items already have unique IDs, a history of owners, and they can be traded,” one of the users on YouTube noted.
Journalist Jason Schreier also agreed with this position: “Does it seem to me that all the elements of this new Ubisoft initiative have been possible for decades without the need to use blockchain technologies?”
Indie developer Robert Anderberg decided to familiarize himself with the Quartz user agreement in detail. “All transactions with Digits will take place through the Tezos blockchain platform. This is an emerging technology that may be associated with risks and that we cannot control,” the document says.
Oh hey, look at this amazing Ubisoft Quartz! Let’s quickly check the terms to see how amazingly empowered they’re making me and how much better than a normal store this is! pic.twitter.com/TD3to5GpeC
— Robert Anderberg (@bobbydigitales) December 7, 2021
In this regard, Ubisoft disclaims responsibility for any damage and losses that the use of the Tezos platform may incur, as well as for the safety of the keys of users’ crypto wallets. In addition, the company stressed that it would not be able to issue a refund or cancel the transaction.
“One day my son accidentally bought a game for $60 on PlayStation, and Sony returned it! Now he can accidentally buy a gun for $1,000, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Incredible progress!” concluded Anderberg.