Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft CEO, held a video question and answer session this week, following pushback from fans surrounding the announcement of Ubisoft Quartz, an NFT based programme.
The announcement of Ubisoft Quartz, a programme to place NFTs in Ubisoft games starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint, was not only met with backlash from fans who heavily disliked the announcement trailer but also employees. Ubisoft’s own developers shared their concerns and disappointments surrounding the project on MANA, the company’s internal social media hub.
Despite a French trade union that represents Ubisoft Paris calling the move “useless” and “ecologically mortifying tech”, Guillemot announced that the company is standing behind the decision to introduce blockchain gaming, per Kotaku. According to multiple sources, Guillemot’s answers were “vague” and full of NFT related buzzwords such as “metaverse” and “web 3.0”.
The session was impromptu and not scheduled at the beginning of the week. Instead it was held in response to the announcement and subsequent negative feedback. Guillemot called the response “expected” and compared it to when DLC, loot boxes and microtransactions were placed in games.
This did little to quieten concerns from employees, as many of these concepts are still met with criticism. When pressed on what new experiences blockchain gaming will offer players, Guillemot was reportedly vague but expressed that players would have “agency” in the “game creation process”.
While Guillemot’s full intentions for NFTs and blockchains in Ubisoft titles were not completely clear, he expressed the company was not backing down from the decision. Rather it has “many more and broader plans” and will “push” blockchain technology in the future.
In response one current developer said:
