When Ubisoft announced that it would be implementing NFTs into its games, the controversy surrounding the practice was already well underway. This allowed the company to preemptively address the players' concerns, particularly concerning the environmental damage caused by mining cryptocurrency and transferring NFTs on the blockchain. Because of this, Ubisoft indicated that it would not use the energy-hungry Ethereum, and would instead opt for Tezos' apparently more efficient and eco-friendly blockchain.
However, this pledge has failed to materialize so far. Ubisoft's NFT partner, Frontier, has already started selling tokens on OpenSea - using Ethereum. The tokens are on sale now, and although they are not part of the Ubisoft Quartz collection, they do come from a company that is publicly using the Ubisoft brand, sharing the high profile partnership prominently on social media.
Speaking to Axios, Ubisoft provided a short statement on the situation. "Part of our role as a key investor is to provide them with counsel and guidance on the most eco-friendly and efficient technology choices", a company representative said. This appears to be an attempt to distance itself from this initial NFT sale, stating that it's just playing an advisory role.
There's no indication that Frontier is planning to change how it operates its NFT business, despite this apparent guidance from Ubisoft. It appears it will continue using the very same blockchain that the gaming company previously criticized for its energy consumption.
This isn't the only concern surrounding this NFT sale. The platform itself, OpenSea, has been at the centre of its own controversies recently, as bot accounts have been known to steal and sell art on the site. As we've reported recently, artists complain that they have no way to contact OpenSea concerning the theft of their work. On top of that, another bot account was caught stealing assets from YouTubers, in an attempt to seemingly sell their whole YouTube channels as NFTs without their permission. OpenSea did remove this account following our report.