An Ubisoft executive has spoken out about NFTs and the company’s new Quartz platform. After Ubisoft launched its Quartz platform and “Digit” NFTs, users criticized the company for what they deemed an opportunistic cash grab. NFTs and cryptocurrencies are controversial topics, with environmentally harmful energy consumption and potential fraud being just a few of the associated demerits. However, Ubisoft believes that those upset about its implementation of NFTs simply don’t understand their platform.
Gamers just “don’t get” NFTs, according to Ubisoft
Gamers aren’t angry about these things, they just don’t understand, says Pouard. In an interview with Finder, Pouard says that gamers just “don’t get” what a secondary market like Ubisoft Quartz can offer:
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 end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they’re finished with them or they’re finished playing the game itself.
So, it’s really, for them. It’s really beneficial. But they don’t get it for now.
Aside from some vague harpings of “decentralization” however, Pouard doesn’t mention any of the supposed benefits of their NFT system. Instead, Pouard paints critics of NFTs as fans who are simply “passionate” about Ubisoft games. With enough time, they too will understand the greatness of their Digit NFTs; Ubisoft just needs to keep pushing the envelope.
Opinion: Ubisoft ignoring NFT concerns is belittling
Andrew writes… Ignoring the fact that Pouard just tried to hand-wave concerns surrounding environmental impact, he isn’t saying anything special here. Acting as though people criticizing a new system “just don’t understand it fully” is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Not only is it intensely belittling, but it also stops Ubisoft from engaging with the criticism legitimately.
