okay everybody saw the title so i won't
beat around the bush in january of 2022
ubisoft released an interview on the i
think financial australian website
called finder this interview was about
nfts and the subject matter was aimed at
their most recent initiative called
quartz where nft digits were being sold
in ghost recon breakpoint i've covered
this topic before because that
initiative was an absolute failure there
was minimal transaction volume for the
collection items were barred behind
multi-hundred hour time gates because
this isn't about providing value it's
about extracting value which is a
completely different thing and the
community reception for this project was
at or below rock bottom but somehow
someway ubisoft isn't getting the
message i'm going to read paragraphs
from this q a and then respond to them
this video isn't going to have the same
sort of analytical investigation content
i've been focusing on lately it's more
just a response to this particular
executive because ubisoft is rapidly
becoming the spearhead of a movement
that will genuinely harm the gaming
industry the intersection of crypto nfts
and gaming appears to be inevitable at
this point youtube's head of gaming ryan
watt just left the company to work for
polygon not the news outlet the crypto
company peter molyneux known for his
work on the fable franchise is now
working on a crypto game called legacy
sega is even considering their next move
with a speculative 10 to 15 billion yen
budget and of course ubisoft as well as
ea are making moves to incorporate nfts
into their flagship titles major
companies and industry figures primarily
executives by the way are on board with
this buzzword trend but the players hate
them for it the reception ubisoft has
faced so far is disastrous and this
interview q a with finder was meant to
address that i believe so let's dive in
nicholas porge the executive in this
interview is the vice president of
ubisoft's innovation lab remember their
innovation lab is the department
currently working full scale on nft
integrations they have partnerships with
multiple different companies in the play
to earn space and i know i said that
this wouldn't contain the same sort of
analytical stuff when compared to my
normal content but i guess this part's
necessary for context ubisoft recently
backed animoka brands and a 65 million
dollar capital raise animoka brands is a
crypto nft startup with a wide range of
existing projects many of which pertain
to nft or crypto driven play-to-earn
economies they are horrible ecosystems
by the way if you want an example think
of the dumbest little flash games you've
ever seen in your life with maximized
advertising like mandatory pop-up full
screen ads and a ridiculous amount of
spam accounts bought accounts and fake
profiles to enter daily or weekly
giveaways basically the intended play to
earn economies that exist under the wing
of ubisoft's new partners are disgusting
and that's not even the only indication
of their plans there is another branch
of ubisoft called the entrepreneurs lab
and that one also has multiple
partnerships with nft companies and
crypto startups these are initiatives
that aim to increase nft adoption find
additional integration use cases and
generally speaking push the technology
as far as possible as it pertains to
ubisoft and their future games they are
going full steam ahead on this and
that's the reality we need to remember
as we look at this interview here we go
finally question number one
gamer feedback quote by the way gamer
feedback to the ubisoft quartz and
digits launch has been generally
negative what has the feedback told you
about the prospects of mainstream nft
success end quote answer by nicholas
pord vp of ubisoft's innovation lab well
it was a reaction we were expecting we
know it's not an easy concept to grasp
but quartz is really just a first step
that should lead to something bigger
something that will be more easily
understood by our players so yeah a side
note he's already starting down the line
with a they just don't understand it
type of argument great job there buddy
continuing 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
and our belief is that piece by piece
the puzzle will be revealed and
understood by our players we hope they
will better understand the value we
offer them end quote so
how do i even really say this eloquently
[ __ ] you contrary to what this guy wants
to pretend players actually do
understand the function of nfts in a
major video game they just don't want
them this is technology and i got big
air quotes around that because the
crypto bros and the nft fans are always
saying this technology will change shut
up
this is technology that's being used to
solve problems solving problems that
don't exist in gaming but let's just
keep reading i'm gonna get too heated
question number two you spoke in your
presentation about improving the
relationship with players if that is
your goal with quartz it must be quite
frustrating to see the feedback you've
received answer it's part of the process
i would say it's a reaction we are
accustomed to i think it's great i think
it's great because it shows how engaged
our players are and how passionate they
are about their hobby and gaming in
general and looking at that i think it's
reassuring somehow it shows that our
players love what we do and love
ubisoft's ability to offer good games so
that's cool i don't really know what to
say right now that's almost delusional
the overwhelmingly negative feedback is
actually good and proves that we should
keep doing it because it somehow shows
that people love our games if you are
accustomed to a severely negative
reaction you might be doing something
wrong just a thought also what little
bit of logic this answer might have gets
thrown out the window when you realize
that if gamers like ubisoft games and if
they understand that nfts will hurt
those games but you're gonna do it
anyway because you think that your
community is full of what passionate
idiots they're not gonna love your games
much longer continuing his answer quote
still obviously we are a bit frustrated
yes but i think overall it's okay and
it's something we can really understand
we so strongly believe that what we are
doing with quartz and digits goes in the
right direction so we will keep
integrating obviously listening to what
our fans are telling us and how they're
telling us as we go so we can also adapt
what we're doing and where we're going
so that's the next move to make sure
what we're doing will make even more
sense to gamers end quote what
what was that if everyone is telling you
to stop how do you arrive at listening
to what our fans are telling us and how
they're telling us but then also keep
going they are telling you to stop they
aren't saying we love the tech and the
functionality and the use cases in the
future they're saying we hate this every
aspect of it it makes no sense it's
unnecessary and we do not want it to
exist in the games that is not
synonymous with make a few tweaks and
keep on trucking along there guy
this dude is honestly special one more
we don't need all of it because you'll
pretty firmly get the point after this
one and it's a lot of repetitive
[ __ ] anyway question number three
well let's talk about making sense of it
what do you think is the big positive
the gamers are missing about what nfts
like digits can offer them
answer quote
i think gamers don't get what a digital
secondary market can bring to them 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 at ubisoft are seeing first is
the end game the endgame is about giving
players the opportunity to resell their
items once they're finished with them or
they're finished playing the game itself
now the best part really truly alright
here we go quote so it's really for them
it's really beneficial but they don't
get it for now also this is part of a
paradigm shift in gaming moving from one
economic system to another is not easy
to handle there are a lot of habits you
need to go against and a lot of your
ingrained mindset you have to shift it
takes time we know that end quote here's
where the mirror just completely
shatters mask off no pretense gamers
don't get it this is actually beneficial
to them we know better than all of our
community but they don't understand he
talks about the value of resale or
secondhand markets and literally says
the gamers don't get what a digital
secondary market can bring to them okay
well why can't we resell our copy of
assassin's creed on uplay
publishers like ubisoft go to great
lengths to mitigate the existence of a
digital secondary market but now they
suddenly want one yes they absolutely
want one but the reason that they want
one is actually very different than
providing player value the real reason
is because a crypto focused in-game
market or economy allows them to extract
significantly more money from their user
base in-game auction houses and
peer-to-peer trading is not new nothing
about that functionality requires nfts
it's existed for a very long time
literally nothing needs nfts but when
you turn your items into a store of
value of literal value and then allow
exchanges to take place between players
for purchase and sale you can harvest
transaction fees not only is it a brand
new flavor of the month way to jack up
prices fueled by terminology such as
ownership and unique it's a way to
create additional publisher income let
me explain csgo counter-strike global
offensive has a massive in-game economy
because weapon skins are worth real
money facilitated by steam these weapon
skins are responsible for a
multi-billion dollar digital economy and
ubisoft if they are able to actually
pull this off would be able to create
their own version of this to a degree
the thing is get this csgo has had that
economy for years they didn't need nfts
no one needs nfts nfts are a completely
useless thing in their current form and
might offer some value for proof of
ownership in particular industries like
in sporting events or even some kind of
application in the medical industry or
field but not for gaming every time the
players buy and sell their nfts on the
marketplace ubisoft would get a cut of
the revenue they would be able to pit
players against each other with
exclusivity to drive prices through the
roof and absolutely none of this
requires nfts at all it's just the
current catalyst behind their push to
expand microtransaction revenue if they
cared about creating secondary markets
and ownership they would let you buy and
sell the game that you bought if they
actually cared about increasing player
value they could easily offer exclusive
items and then put price tags on them
with peer-to-peer trading and a cash out
option they don't need nfts for that
they never have but they can't actually
do it because of existing regulations
well crypto doesn't have that kind of
regulation so either a they create an
identical system to what they could have
already done and you don't even get to
cash out the value of your nfts though
they are a store of value and that's
kind of the whole point in their current
phase or or b they do it to circumvent
regulation you can cash out if you will
they ride this digital economy as far as
possible with transaction fees and
eventually get regulated into the dirt
here's the thing i don't believe that
this is a company-wide initiative
because i know from a couple of ubisoft
developers that i do still talk to that
they don't want this [ __ ] in their games
mfts are not the reason that they got
into the field let me just put it that
way i recognize that many of the actual
creatives at the company are not
advocating for this trash so i wanted to
take a moment and clarify the title
ubisoft as a corporate entity is
absolute trash right now their executive
team their decision making process for
spearheading new projects all of it but
their creative departments they do some
great work and i don't believe that the
greedy failures of management should be
universally applied to all employees i'm
probably burning a bridge here to be
honest i've been to the ubisoft lounge
at e3 a bunch of my close friends from
the beginning of upper echelon have been
star players for them gotten free trips
out of it etc etc and i've even gone out
to one of their studios to literally
help fix one of their games i understand
that i will burn a very real bridge a
very valuable bridge with this title and
this video if i haven't already but i
will never support ubisoft again if they
push forward with this endeavor
no one wants this at least not any
legitimate like gaming enthusiasts maybe
the the idiot crypto bros and the nft
fans that don't even play video games
for long enough to unlock any of the
exclusive items maybe they want this but
no one cares what they want what they
want is irrelevant they shouldn't even
have a voice in the discussion and
unless we start to say it with
sufficient force and impact they clearly
are not going to get the message ubisoft
is honestly speedrunning the destruction
of their own reputation right now and
i'm not even surprised i just i can't
say i'm surprised at the very least put
a smarter talking head on stage for the
interviews because at this point you are
a complete joke of a company gamers
don't get it no they get it they just
hate it and all you are gonna do is add
fuel to the dumpster fire if you keep on
going that's it ubisoft is now my
personal pick for the worst gaming
industry publisher bar none
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stop rambling as always thank you all
for watching and have a nice night
[Music]
you