Ubisoft Continues Its Push for NFTs in Video Games

Ubisoft is continuing its NFT gaming push, having just announced a new partnership to that effect. The move signals that Ubisoft is still unwavering in its pursuit of the technology that has already received significant pushback from its fans.

The company’s NFT foray began in late 2021 with the launch of Ubisoft Quartz, a platform for buying and selling Digits, its jargon for non-fungible tokens. While the service exists to this day, it never expanded beyond Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It also incurred a barrage of public criticism, with many consumers proclaiming it to be pointless and solely geared toward selling simple digital items at unacceptable prices, thus concluding how it would be best if Ubisoft’s NFT initiative would crash and burn.

Ubisoft Continues NFT Push With Double Jump.Tokyo Partnership

That backlash seemingly did little to dissuade the company from pursuing new NFT projects. Another such undertaking was announced on July 4 in the form of a partnership with Double Jump.Tokyo. The collaboration will see the Japanese developer provide support for integrating Web3 technologies into Ubisoft’s first blockchain-based game, Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles. The first step in that endeavor will be to implement the proprietary gaming blockchain Oasys Layer 2 HOME Verse into the PC-only game.

The two companies did not provide a timeline for when exactly the integration is meant to be completed. The game, which is touted as a competitive multiplayer turn-based RPG, is still waiting for a release date. It’s currently unclear what implications this partnership may have on the future of Ubisoft Quartz, which the company insisted still existed as an “underlying infrastructure” in a late 2023 statement issued to PC Gamer. But this newly announced collaboration implies Dobule Jump.Tokyo will be the one in charge of providing the blockchain infrastructure for Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles.

Looking at the bigger picture, it would appear Ubisoft’s stance that players just “don’t get” NFTs yet remains unchanged. The company previously touted Web3 technologies as having a future in gaming by providing an avenue for creating experiences that support owning, trading, and controlling in-game assets using NFTs and other blockchain solutions. Gamers, for their part, remain largely unimpressed and even outright hostile to the idea.

In between the launch of Ubisoft Quartz and this Dobule Jump.Tokyo collaboration, the Assassin’s Creed maker struck another Web3 partnership with Sydney, Australia-based developer Immutable. Announced in November 2023, the initiative has yet to yield any consumer-facing content. Ubisoft’s latest blockchain partner has previously also been attached to some of Sega’s NFT projects, including an as-of-yet-unreleased Web3 game called Battle of Three Kingdoms – Sangokushi Taisen. While that title is still said to be in development at Dobule Jump.Tokyo, Sega itself dropped its wider NFT ambitions back in 2023.

Ubisoft

Date Founded

March 28, 1986

Headquarters

Saint Mandé, France

CEO

Yves Guillemot