Integrating the blockchain into its video games. This is the novelty introduced last December by Ubisoft, a French video game publisher, creator of the successful games Assassin’s Creed, For Honor and Far Cry, and whose Montpellier studio employs some 500 people. The French firm is launching Ubisoft Quartz, a platform that allows players to acquire “Digits”, the first NFTs in the form of tokens (see glossary) integrated into game items (weapons, clothing, etc.), these objects that players acquire virtually. Objective: Allow players to earn and own content.
“We have worked with several companies that use blockchain and are starting to have good know-how to develop the industry. We want to be one of the key players in this development, ”says Frédérick Duguet, financial director of Ubisoft, to the specialized information site Cointribune. These NFTs will be usable in so-called “AAA” or “Triple A” games, games with high development and promotion budgets. To operate the first playable low-power NFTs in a AAA game, Ubisoft Quartz relies on the Tezos blockchain. “Energy efficiency is a key requirement for propelling blockchain technology into a future where it can be widely used by millions of players. We chose Tezos because of its network and its leadership in clean NFTs,” says Didier Genevois, blockchain technical director at Ubisoft.
Unique pieces to collect game worlds
Launched in beta with the video game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon® Breakpoint on Ubisoft Connect for Windows PC, the “Digits” are marketed as part of limited editions*. “NFTs represent unique pieces for collecting universes from Ubisoft’s game,” explains the company. Indeed, each “Digit” has the particularity of being unique. It has its own serial number, and keeps track of its current and previous owners, making gamers an integral part of the game’s story. value they generate through the time they spend, the objects they buy or the content they create online,” explains Nicolas Pouard, Vice-President of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab. The “Digit” is accompanied by a certificate of ownership stored on the Tezos blockchain, allowing players to decide whether to resell their “Digit” to other eligible players, on third-party platforms outside the Ubisoft ecosystem. “Ubisoft Quartz is the first building block of our ambitious vision to develop a real metaverse (virtual world)”, adds Nicolas Pouard.
A less virtual project, Ubisoft has announced the creation of its first “game park”, an immersive center at the heart of Studios Occitanie Méditerranée, on the Bayssan estate in Béziers. Planned for 2025-2026, the park will be able to welcome 300,000 visitors per year, to discover the interactive worlds directly inspired by Ubisoft video games. Like a taste of the metaverse.
Hubert Vialatte
Pictured: Illustrative image of Ubisoft Quartz, Ubisft’s platform that uses blockchain.
Credit: Ubisoft