Ubisoft recently became the first traditional gaming giant to implement in-game NFTs with the launch of its Tezos-based Quartz platform, but the publisher faced significant backlash from gamers. Today, alongside announcing a new alliance with Aleph.im, Ubisoft discussed the fan response with Decrypt, calling video game NFTs a “major change” for players.

When the tokenized collectibles first launched in online shooter Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint earlier this month, many fans called the limited-edition digital items pointless or a cynical trend chase. Others suggested that Ubisoft’s plan would harm the environment, despite its use of Tezos, a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that’s considered to be an energy-efficient alternative to the leading NFT platform, Ethereum.

In any case, Ubisoft went ahead with its plans—unlike GSC Game World with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s planned NFTs, or gaming-centric chat app Discord with its own crypto wallet integration. Both of those companies scrapped their respective initiatives following pushback from users and fans.

Today, Ubisoft announced a partnership with Aleph.im to provide decentralized storage for its NFT assets, which are called “Digits” on the Quartz platform. Didier Genevois, Ubisoft’s Blockchain Technical Director, answered Decrypt’s questions about the response to the initial in-game NFT rollout earlier this month.

“We have received a lot of feedback since the announcement, and we hear both the encouragement and the concerns,” he said. “We understand where the sentiment towards the technology comes from, and we need to keep taking it into consideration every step of the way.” 

Genevois continued: “This experiment is meant to understand how the value proposition of decentralization can be received and embraced by our players. We know it is a major change that will take time, but we will stay true to our three principles.”

According to Genevois, Ubisoft’s principles are to “use the tech responsibly” and “build a safe environment” for players to explore how NFTs work, “only leverage energy-efficient proof-of-stake blockchains,” and “focus on meaningful value propositions for players that benefit their gaming experience.”

An NFT serves as a proof of ownership for a unique digital object—in this case, one-of-a-kind video game items like weapons and gear. Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon NFTs can be resold via Tezos secondary markets. Other video game NFTs can potentially also be interoperable assets, thus enabling their use in multiple games and online platforms.

Embracing Aleph.im

Ubisoft’s launch of the Quartz platform followed years of exploration in the crypto industry. The publisher behind such franchises as Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance first created its own Minecraft-inspired crypto game prototype called HashCraft and showcased it in 2018, but did not release it.

In 2020, Ubisoft released a Rabbids-themed NFT initiative for charity, and then earlier this year rolled out One Shot League, a spinoff of Ethereum-based NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare. In October, Ubisoft made its first formal investment into a crypto startup, taking part in Animoca Brands’ $65 million round with plans to collaborate on NFT-centric games together.

The publisher has also supported numerous crypto startups via its Entrepreneurs Lab accelerator program. Distributed cloud network Aleph.im was chosen as one of the projects back in May, and then Ubisoft agreed to run one of Aleph.im’s core channel nodes in July. Today’s announcement formalizes the growing relationship between Ubisoft and the project.

“Our main objective with Ubisoft Quartz is to showcase the true value of decentralization to our players,” said Genevois. “Aleph.im played a key role in the realization of our vision by allowing us to go one step further and decentralize the storage of the Digits’ video asset and metadata.”

Before tapping Aleph.im’s platform, Genevois said that Ubisoft would have to store NFT metadata—or core information about the asset and its purpose—on centralized servers or via IPFS, a user-operated file-sharing network. Aleph.im assures long-term storage via its own decentralized network, and also allows Ubisoft to update NFT metadata over time.

Ubisoft, which is also a corporate validator for the Tezos network, rolled out exclusive NFT drops for Ghost Recon Breakpoint—all completely free items—on three separate days earlier this month. The publisher has teased additional NFT drops in 2022, but has yet to announce NFT integration into any of its other popular game franchises.

Despite the backlash, Ubisoft is continuing on with its NFT plans, while fellow major publisher Square Enix recently announced its own crypto game plans, and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson suggested that NFTs “will be an important part of the future of our industry on a go-forward basis.”

Aleph.im founder Jonathan Schemoul told Decrypt that he believes “most big publishers will end up proposing in-game NFT support,” citing potential benefits like interoperable assets. “That would be a great breakthrough,” he added, “making the gaming experience even more enjoyable.”

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Ubisoft was the first major video game publisher to take an interest in the blockchain space, experimenting with crypto game prototypes and supporting startups over the last few years. But now the gaming giant will actually implement NFTs within one of its major franchises in a new initiative that runs on Tezos.

Today, the publisher behind Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance revealed Ubisoft Quartz, a platform that lets players earn and purchase in-game items that are tokenized as NFTs on the Tezos blockchain. Quartz will launch first in the PC version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the latest online game in the long-running tactical shooter series.

Quartz will launch in beta on December 9 in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, and Australia. Ghost Recon Breakpoint players who have reached XP level 5 in the game can access the NFT drops. Ubisoft’s release says that players must be at least 18 years old to create a Tezos wallet for use with the game.

Ubisoft is referring to its NFT drops as “Digits” and plans to release free NFTs for early adopters on December 9, 12, and 15, with further drops planned for 2022. An infographic shows items such as weapon skins and unique armor and apparel, along with a message that teases future initiatives: “This is just the beginning…”

An NFT effectively serves as a receipt for a provably scarce digital item, and while digital illustrations and profile pictures have been popular, they can also represent video game items. Ethereum-powered monster-battling game Axie Infinity is currently the biggest player in the space, racking up more than $3.6 billion in trading volume to date, per CryptoSlam.

“Ubisoft Quartz is the first building block in our ambitious vision for developing a true metaverse,” said Nicolas Pouard, VP of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab, in a release. “And it can’t come to life without overcoming blockchain’s early-form limitations for gaming, including scalability and energy consumption.”

Much of Ubisoft’s announcement today highlights the difference in environmental impact between the proof-of-stake Tezos blockchain and the energy-intensive Bitcoin.

Tezos claims that a single transaction on its network uses “more than 2 million times less energy” than Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency. It also suggests that a single Tezos transaction uses about as much energy as a 30-second streaming video, whereas a Bitcoin transaction is estimated to measure up to the environmental impact of a full, uninterrupted year of streaming video footage.

The perceived environmental impact of blockchain technology has created backlash within the traditional video game market in the past, including recently when horror game Dead by Daylight unveiled plans to launch a new character in the form of an NFT.

Ubisoft first began exploring the crypto and NFT space years back, developing a Minecraft-like game prototype called HashCraft that Decrypt first covered in early 2019. Since then, Ubisoft has worked with numerous crypto startups through its Entrepreneurs Lab accelerator program, and supported projects like Axie Infinity, Nine Chronicles, and NBA Top Shot. It also became a corporate validator on the Tezos network in April of this year.

While HashCraft was never released, Ubisoft did debut a couple of small experiments in the space: charity-focused NFT project Rabbids Token, as well as this year’s One Shot League, a spinoff of popular NFT fantasy soccer game, Sorare. In October, Ubisoft made its first true investment in a crypto startup, participating in Animoca Brands’ $65 million funding round and affirming plans to work with the firm on NFT-driven games.

Other major game publishers are eyeing the space, as well: Square Enix announced plans in November to develop NFT games, while Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson recently described NFTs as “an important part of the future of our industry on a go-forward basis.”

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