EA CEO Andrew Wilson thinks NFTs are the future of the gaming industry, but gamers seem to disagree with that assessment. Ubisoft revealed its plan to incorporate NFTs into its games with the Quartz platform, and it didn’t take long for the backlash to begin. Ubisoft has delisted the trailer for Quartz that detailed NFTs for Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Earlier, the video received over 15,000 dislikes versus just over 800 likes, a 20:1 ratio. Things only got worse from there, with the number of dislikes climbing to around 31,000 while likes barely broke 1,000. That’s when Ubisoft decided to pull the video. (Those with the link can still view it.)
Ubisoft teased its plans to roll out NFTs in November, having invested in a blockchain gaming company called Animoca Brands. Ubisoft Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet had said it would provide more options for players to earn and own in-game content.
[Blockchain] will enable more play-to-earn that will enable more players to actually earn content, own content, and we think it’s going to grow the industry quite a lot. We’ve been working with lots of small companies going on blockchain and we’re starting to have a good know-how on how it can impact the industry, and we want to be one of the key players here.
It seems the company is still moving forward with a launch on December 9. There has been no comment from Ubisoft regarding the delisting of the announcement trailer.
Sources: VGC (via PC Gamer), International Business Times (via GameInformer), Animoca Brands