Ubisoft announces ‘playable’ NFTs for Ghost Recon and nobody is happy about it

Ghost Recon Breakpoint is said to be the first major Ubisoft game in which NFTs aka Digits play a role.

Ubisoft announces NFTs in games. It’s been around for a while in other titles, but not yet from a publisher of this size. The Ubisoft plans have also been known for a while, but now they are apparently being implemented. The first game with in game NFTs, which Ubisoft Digits or Ubisoft Quartz calls, is to be Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. However, that doesn’t go down well with most players. The reactions to the announcement have been overwhelmingly negative.

Ubisoft launches NFTs in Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Thursday

What’s the matter? NFTs seem to be emerging as the next big gaming gold rush. Of the giant game publishers, Ubisoft is now taking the first step to introduce NFTs into video games in order to make money. Players should also be able to earn money from it. In a sense, another in-game currency with a much greater impact on the real world.

What are NFTs? NFT stands for “Non-Fungible Tokens” and they represent, to a certain extent and in a roughly simplified manner, deeds of ownership of unique digital content. These can be, for example, simple images or now items in video games. Theoretically, they are yours if you have bought the NFT and this ownership claim is saved with the help of blockchain technology. In practice, however, the content can still be duplicated.

Ubisoft Quartz announced: Ubisoft is now launching its own platform called Ubisoft Quartz and introducing so-called digits in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. These digits are NFTs and more or less unique items such as a face mask that you can put on your character in the game. It then has a serial number with which you should be able to identify your item.

In addition to this helmet with mask, there should also be a leg armor and a weapon skin. These digits of course cost real money and can then theoretically be resold by their owners on the Ubisoft Quartz platform. The idea is that these digital items will increase in value.

There is a lot of criticism: Ubisoft vows to use a blockchain technology that is not supposed to be as bad for the environment as most such solutions are. But one of the main criticisms of blockchain technology and the NFTs and cryptocurrencies based on it is and remains the incredible power consumption and carbon footprint. In addition, the whole thing is based on a kind of pyramid system and is riddled with attempts at fraud.

In addition, of course, there is the question of what NFTs have lost in video games, or how they should enrich this medium. There are already in-game items that can be sold and there are also in-game currencies and economies. The only argument for using NFTs in games is: make more money, faster. You can find out more about this, for example, in this Bloomberg article read.

Link to YouTube content

Fans react angrily: Accordingly, the comments under Ubisoft’s announcement video for Quartz and Digits are mostly negative. The top comment with over 6,200 likes is “You are very lucky that people can no longer see dislike numbers”. Directly below that, Ghost Recon fans complain that the franchise is now clearly only supposed to be milked.

Most of the comments fall in the same line:

Another person comments that the dislike counter can be displayed with the help of plug-ins, which is currently clear at over 13,000 thumbs down compared to around 800 thumbs up. This is particularly severe because the announcement video is not officially listed on YouTube.

What do you think of the announcement in particular and what do you think of NFTs and blockchain technology in general?