Earlier this week, French mega-developer Ubisoft unveiled its vision for the future: Ubisoft Quartz. The premise was simple: the developer would use the blockchain to sell “unique” NFTs with cryptocurrency.
Much like any major NFT announcement, the Internet responded with fervour. After all, Ubisoft already has a history of financially manipulating its fanbase with microtransactions. With an overwhelming negative response, Ubisoft may have actually given up.
Everyone hates Ubisoft Quartz
Reported by VGC, Ubisoft’s NFT plans may have been thrown in the fire after its incredibly negative reaction. The service’s announcement trailer on the official Ubisoft North America YouTube channel was immediately inflamed with dislikes.
Before it was delisted by the developer, the video had an overwhelming dislike ratio. In its final moments, the like-to-dislike ratio was 5% liked to 95% disliked. The trailer has also been removed from every other Ubisoft YouTube channel.
However, likes and dislikes were not the only response the company had to worry about. Multiple YouTube videos from channels such as ACG have ousted the company’s plans as being bad for games and “worse than free to play”. The majority of videos surrounding the subject have labelled Quartz as a “scam” or a “joke” that targets gamers.
At the time of writing, the developer’s Twitter announcement is still available, alongside its horde of negative replies. Additionally, the Ubisoft Quartz announcement website is still up, although is still inaccessible in many regions.
Read More: NFTs have the possibility to be the worst thing for video games
Are NFTs bad for games?
For the most part, yes. There is a good idea nestled in the idea of an NFT, a token that can be transferred between services and maintain a value. In video games, this would mean the object you buy would have permanence and be usable in future games.
However, that's not how video games work. If over 100 unique skins for a weapon are sold as an NFT, then that weapon must exist in all future games to make that “blockchain promise” work. Of course, it's not going to work like that; bringing forth hundreds, if not thousands, of NFTs into every future game with correct balancing is just impossible.
Additionally, all crypto has a negative effect on the environment — a massive one. Ubisoft’s unproven claim that their NFTs are actually ecologically beneficial is just a fallacy.