Ubisoft Pulls Out of NFT and Blockchain Market

Months after receiving an extremely negative feedback for his NFT project Quartz, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot seems to be giving up on the company's love for NFTs.

Yves Guillemot, CEO of French gaming giant Ubisoft, appears to have cooled the rhetoric behind the company's NFT game project Quartz, stating in a recent interview that he is only in "research mode" regarding Web3 technology integrations. This is a relatively different approach from other Ubisoft executives in the past, including chief financial officer Frédérick Duguet, who stated in October that blockchain integrations would enable users to own and earn content and that the firm wanted to "be one of the key players here." https://twitter.com/MusicBrosNFT/status/1569409332139249665 In a September 10 interview with gamesindustry.biz, Guillemot appears to walk back some of those comments, emphasizing that at this stage Ubisoft is primarily trying to explore how NFTs can be applied to games and whether they can benefit players. "We're working a lot on the cloud, on next-gen voxels, and looking at all the Web3 capabilities. We've tested a few things recently that have given us more insight into how it can be used and what we need to do in the universe of video games," he said: "So we're running tests with some games and we'll see if they really respond to the needs of gamers. But I would say we are still in research mode." Ubisoft announced its first foray into NFTs in December, after launching the beta version of Ubisoft Quartz, which aims to provide players with playable NFTs that can be used in games like Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint. The move was met with a strong backlash from some members of the NFT-hating gaming community, with some accusing the company of "milking" every possible penny out of popular game franchises by introducing NFTs into the mix. Nicolas Pouard, Vice President of Ubisoft's Strategic Innovations Lab, defended the company's NFT efforts in January, saying "I think gamers don't understand what a digital secondary market can bring them." Commenting on Ubisoft's NFT presentation, Guillemot says the company ultimately failed to communicate its approach to the project effectively enough. "We probably weren't good at saying that we're doing research," Guillemot said, "we should have said that we're working on it and when we find something that will give you a real benefit we'll bring it to you." The Ubisoft CEO was also asked about the environmental impact of blockchain technology, which is often emphasized by players who see energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) chains as the industry standard for all projects. Guillemot said that while he is "very cautious" about the industry's environmental impact, he is optimistic that these issues will be addressed over time. "Like many things, it's not as good as it could be in the beginning, but like other new technologies, they will find the right path." Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!