So far, Ubisoft hasn’t had much success with the Quartz NFT platform. Players around the world have had extremely negative feedback on the idea of acquiring NFTs in-game and then reselling them. But according to two senior Ubisoft executives, there are many prejudices and misunderstandings about NFT. Gamers just didn’t realize how useful NFTs would be to them.
What’s wrong with Quartz and NFTs? Quartz is a platform that allows players to manage NFTs from Ubisoft games. NFTs are unique digital objects in the world thanks to blockchain technology and can be exchanged for real money.
But Quartz’s announcement has already caused a shit storm, and gamers seemed to hate the idea of NFTs in games. The feedback was so bad that Ubisoft even “hidden” the video at the end.
But what lessons does Ubisoft draw from this? The Australian site Finder interviewed the two managers Nicolas Pouard (Vice President of the Strategic Innovations Lab) and Didier Genevois (Blockchain Technical Director).
According to Ubisoft, gamers haven’t yet realized how valuable NFTs can be to them
What is the manager’s view on the Quartz flop? Interestingly, some of the backlash was already expected at Ubisoft. As Nicolas Pouard says at the very beginning of the interview:
Well, that’s the reaction we expected. We know the concept is not easy to understand. But Quartz is really just a first step towards something bigger. Something that will be more easily understood by our players. This is how we think and why we will continue to experiment. We will continue to release features and services around this first initiative. And we believe that piece by piece the puzzle will be discovered and understood by our players. We hope they will better understand the value we offer them.
Nicolas Pouard (Vice-President of the Strategic Innovations Lab)
A Minecraft-style game sold over 1.1 million NFTs and suddenly disappeared
That’s why everything should be a good thing: The problem, according to Ubisoft, is that gamers have not yet understood what benefits NFT and blockchain technologies would bring to gamers. He further explains:
I don’t think gamers understand what a digital secondary market can do for them. Right now, given the current situation and context, players sincerely believe that NFTs are firstly planet-destroying and secondly just a tool for speculation. But what we see first is the endgame. The ultimate goal is to allow players to resell their items when they no longer need them or want to play the game.
This [die NFT-Technologie] so it’s really a win for them [die Spieler]. It’s really beneficial. But they don’t understand right away.
Moreover, it is part of a paradigm shift in the game. Switching from one economic system to another is not easy to manage. There are many habits to break and many ingrained mindsets to change. It will take time. We know it.
Nicolas Pouard (Vice-President of the Strategic Innovations Lab)
So at Ubisoft, we remain convinced that NFTs are a good thing and represent the future of gaming. It just hasn’t reached the players yet. Moreover, environmental concerns are not necessary, as the energy-efficient Tezos blockchain is used.
So whether Ubisoft’s top executives will be right or whether NFTs will continue to be a red flag for many gamers remains to be seen.
By the way, Maik Schneider, editor of MeinMMO, also has a similar and positive view of NFTs. He says: “The harsh criticism of NFTs in games is unfair – they are more than micro-transactions”
What is your opinion on the statements of the leaders of Ubisoft? Are NFTs just ahead of their time, or do you see a worrying development there? Let us know in the comments!