Ubisoft already has a pretty uninspiring history with NFTs, but that doesn't mean that it's backing away from the idea, as it believes that players simply "don't get" all the benefits the controversial technology brings.
Nicolas Pouard, VC at Strategic Innovations Lab, commented on the NFT investment in a recent interview with Finder. The head of blockchain initiatives assured that Ubisoft would continue to seek an approach to the customers, as "it's not an easy concept to grasp."
Ubisoft was reportedly prepared for the negative reaction among the players, although Nicolas Pouard didn't mention that some of the studio's employees are just as confused and upset about NFTs as everyone else.
"Quartz is really just a first step that should lead to something bigger," Pouard explained. "Something that will be more easily understood by our players. That's the way we think about it and why we will keep experimenting. We will keep releasing features and services around this first initiative."
Pouard hopes that, eventually, players will better understand the value that NFTs offer them. In return, the company will listen to how the fans react so that they can adapt to the situation - and make sure what they're doing "will make even more sense to gamers."
"For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it's first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation. But what we are seeing first is the end game," he said. "The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they're finished with them or when they're finished playing the game itself. It's really beneficial. But they don't get it for now."
Pouard also revealed that Ubisoft does not seek to implement Digits in all of its projects for now, "We are a very decentralised company already. We let each project's team decide if they want to have Digits or not. Or use the Quartz platform itself."
NFTs aside, Ubisoft has complications with its other projects. The company struggled to find a place for its free-to-play battle royale shooter Hyper Scape on the market — and failed. As a result, the game will shut down its servers on April 28.