File this one under “who asked for this”: Ubisoft is going all in on the crypto dystopia with a new NFT-driven implementation in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. “Ubisoft Quartz is a new experience for our players, built upon our vision of creating an ever-greater connection between you and the game worlds you love,” the company declared today. “It aims at offering you more autonomy and agency when interacting with the in-game items that help you craft your own story. This is the place where you can acquire Digits, the first Ubisoft NFTs (non-fungible tokens), playable in a HD game and relying on an energy-efficient technology.”
We’ve written at length about both the technical and environmental problems with NFTs in gaming and attempts by both legitimate and scam companies to hawk and greenwash them.
We also note here that the newest entry in the Ghost Recon franchise, Frontline, was a battle royale that got so much pushback that Ubisoft canceled its beta. So hey, maybe try some pushback on this too.
In the meantime, NFTs and other crypto schemes are still flooding the games market and our corner of it.
• Ubisoft made good on its NFT scheme promise with ‘Ubisoft Quartz’
• Vague Patch Notes: NFTs in gaming are a bad, dumb idea
• MMO Business Roundup: Discord crypto mess, Unity buys Weta, Roblox Q3 2021 financials
• Developer Core Loop raises $12M to make an in-development blockchain MMO
• Square Enix earnings drop, FFXIV subs rise, and NFT is here to stay
• EVE Online’s latest newbie experience revamp is paying off as CCP Games dabbles in NFTs
• MMO Business Roundup: Ubisoft thinks crypto is just swell
• As Steam heads off blockchain games, the Epic Games Store welcomes them
• Valve appears to be banning titles with NFT and crypto trading from Steam
• Blockchain metaverse Earth 2 lets players plop down holobuildings in latest update
• Habbo Hotel developer Sulake enters the blockchain racket with the release of Habbo avatar NFTs
• Kingfall is proudly advertising itself as a casual fantasy MMORPG with NFTs attached
• $40M of Nexon’s $100M bitcoin investment poofed in the last four months
• Chronicles of Elyria tweaks NDA, locks down Reddit over death threats, and proposes NFT land trades
• Whatever happened to anti-grinding MMO Zeal? It joined the NFT craze
• Nexon CEO talks games industry innovation, venture capital, and crypto
• Flyff and Rappelz, under new management, are running spring cryptocurrency events
• Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen begins selling NFT-minted artwork to fund development
• Nine Chronicles is a ‘decentralized’ peer-to-peer blockchain MMO with open source modification features
• Blockchain-powered creative MMO Blankos Block Party announces closed beta for November 17 and launches founder’s packs
• Cryptocurrency-monetized sandbox MMO Ember Sword gets $700K in funding, opens pre-registration
• Astellia Online is no longer run by Barunsun E&A, which might explain its new blockchain promotion
• Project Genesis is a hybrid MMO shooter with a persistent world and blockchain currency
• Greed Monger delays refunds again because of crypto market dips
• Entropia Universe studio MindArk is pitching an IP exchange and a cryptocurrency bank
• Shroud of the Avatar’s Richard Garriott backs Neverdie’s ‘etherium blockchain gaming’ venture
Update
