Ubisoft CEO claims NFT launches were simply ‘research’

[Mr Jt (Gog is king)]

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has described a move away from NFTs and blockchain in a new interview.

In a new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has discussed the future of NFTs and blockchain technologies at the company, describing their implementation in games like Ghost Recon Breakpoint as simple ‘research’. It appears Ubisoft is now moving away from this space, after a brief hype period in 2021 that saw several NFTs launch via the company’s ambitious Ubisoft Quartz blockchain platform.

We probably were not good at saying we are researching,’ Guillemot told GamesIndustry.biz. ‘We should have said we were working on it and when we have something that gives you a real benefit, we’ll bring it to you.’

‘As a company, we went into VR early, into the Wii early. We always try new things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work, but it’s always to make sure we can bring a new experience to players that will be innovative and interesting. The goal of the company is always to create the best experience and new technologies are always good for that because there’s less competition and people are more interested to try new things on new technology.’

According to Guillemot, exploring isn’t the same as launching – and it appears the NFT and blockchain implementations in Ghost Recon Breakpoint fit simply into that ‘exploring’ period.

‘This industry is evolving quickly and it’s very cautious about the impact it will have. Like so many things, at the beginning, it’s not as good as it could be, but like other new technologies, they will find the right way,’ Guillemot said.

This is a fairly sound conclusion for Ubisoft’s major foray into the NFT space, with Guillemot appearing to admit the technology does not currently work as intended, and does not provide a worthy value add for players.


In reality, the Ghost Recon Breakpoint NFT experiment went rather poorly for Ubisoft, with few players purchasing the game’s NFTs, and the online marketplace for these items stagnating very early on. According to a Kotaku report, very few transactions took place on Ubisoft Quartz, even at the height of NFT fever. As of December 2021, reseller markets had reportedly recorded only a handful of sales, totalling 94.49 Tezos – worth just AU $540.


Following an entirely new platform launch, and the loss of player goodwill – NFTs have been highly contentious online, with many pointing out their lack of value and impact on the environment as extreme negatives – it appears Ubisoft has concluded the technology is no longer worthwhile.

While Guillemot reportedly told staff that NFTs were ‘just the beginning’ in late 2021, it now appears the CEO is backtracking on the company’s NFT ambitions. The early foray into the NFT space was reportedly a result of ambitious research and development, but the enthusiasm for the technology now appears to be waning. Guillemot did not completely rule out a return to NFTs in future, but his assessment of the company’s NFT ‘research’ project is fairly damning.

‘Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work,’ according to Guillemot – and it looks mightily like the Ghost Recon Breakpoint NFT experiment has been placed in the ‘doesn’t work’ pile. It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing more Ubisoft NFTs in future.

Ubisoft is just one of the worst companies out there. The ceo reflects that perfectly

https://www.gameshub.com/news/news/ubisoft-ceo-nfts-research-claims-29402/

[Ozone]

I really hope Ubisoft get new management sooner rather than later. Their games have been uninspired, soulless tripe for so many years now, it's not even funny.
And they insist to not sell the games on Steam because they don't want to lose out on revenue. They are doing so well since they are selling on their Uplay ♥♥♥♥ store and Epic ♥♥♥♥ store that they are being bought out by the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Chinese to pay their debts.

Ubisoft is a joke

[Fishie]

Hmm slander of a good company.

[AdahnGorion]

Wolf původně napsal:

Hmm slander of a good company.

https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-gaming-has-around-a-93-95-per-cent-piracy-rate-claims-ubisoft-ceo/

Alright it was 95% only.......

[Kayhan]

They were not pushing for NFT's this was just "Surprise Research"

:)

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

lmfao

Nfts have their big hype earlier this year:
Ubisoft instantly jumps on board.

A few months later (aka now):
"Nah, it was merely research"

[TWPanda77]

I did not realize before how funny Yves Guillemot really is. Awesome comedian.

[AdahnGorion]

Mr Jt (Gog is king) původně napsal:

Darkie původně napsal:

https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-gaming-has-around-a-93-95-per-cent-piracy-rate-claims-ubisoft-ceo/

Alright it was 95% only.......

Seriously in this day and age it’s a legitime practice. The true pirates are ubisoft ea and co and the other ones are the preservers and which don’t support companies which treat their customers like s*

I agree.. but that was his claim and that was his reason for starting the age of denuvo as well.
There is a reason, why "older generation" gamers dislike Ubisoft and in some cases refuse to buy their games.

The newer generation does not know ofc, they have grown up with this

[Uncle Sam]

Kayhan původně napsal:

They were not pushing for NFT's this was just "Surprise Research"

:)

Agreed, seems like good ol Ubi is attempting to compete with EA's "surprise mechanics".

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

they where making fun of the peoples who din't want NFT before saying ''it's only you that don't get it'' ... then they're seeing that they're not gonna be making as much money then anticipated with NFT then goes like ''oh , we where just experimenting''.

[Mr Jt (Gog is king)]

Ozone původně napsal:

I really hope Ubisoft get new management sooner rather than later. Their games have been uninspired, soulless tripe for so many years now, it's not even funny.
And they insist to not sell the games on Steam because they don't want to lose out on revenue. They are doing so well since they are selling on their Uplay ♥♥♥♥ store and Epic ♥♥♥♥ store that they are being bought out by the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Chinese to pay their debts.

Ubisoft is a joke

They will dissapear same for square enix. A sinking ship majority of gamers these days dislike the company and this will only grow. Their new ac games wont help them. I assume tencent or some other shady company buys them

[lukaself]

Mr Jt (Gog is king) původně napsal:

They will dissapear same for square enix. A sinking ship majority of gamers these days dislike the company and this will only grow. Their new ac games wont help them. I assume tencent or some other shady company buys them

One can hope and it won't be too soon: those two companies kept dragging the artistic and quality standards of the whole gaming industry down for decades.

[Phirestar]

“Guys, it was a social experiment.”

[|ツ-ColeTrunks]

When did gaging interest in a product become a bad thing?

[lukaself]

|ツ-ColeTrunks původně napsal:

When did gaging interest in a product become a bad thing?

I tried gauging my neighbours interest into financing my Ponzi scheme the other day. They're not talking to me anymore for some reason.

Joke aside, pretending to "research" something that's perceived as a scam by offering to sell it to you will obviously raise some eyebrows. NFTs are not a product, they're a way to substract money from you while giving you nothing of substance in exchange. We know this, Ubisoft knows this and they ridiculized themselves by pretending they didn't when we caught them, red-handed, trying to fleece some of their unsuspecting patrons.

[trousers]

|ツ-ColeTrunks původně napsal:

When did gaging interest in a product become a bad thing?

Because in this case its code for "we all got duped by a load of hucksters and spent lots of money on a totally unfeasible project with no motive other than the hope it would make us more money"

edit: didn't even do any marketing research, or tech or software research, they just did it and then made the excuse up after the fact. How can I tell? Lol its Ubisoft LMAO