Non-fungible tokens are everywhere, and there is no sign that they will be going away. The move towards using NFTs seems inevitable, even in unconventional fields such as car making and real estate.
Another sign of this fusion comes from the combined efforts of The Sandbox metaverse platform and the gaming behemoth Ubisoft which have launched a strategic partnership. The agreement will allow Ubisoft to have its land in the metaverse, which will develop unique gaming experiences with NFTs.
This partnership is seen as a major metaverse platform, The Sandbox because it is still in development with only teasers and project promises but no official launch date.
The lack of an official launch hasn’t stopped venture capital and eager investors from flooding the company with offers. Last November, The Sandbox platform raised more than $93 million in a funding scheme assisted by SoftBank, a major Japanese conglomerate.
The SandBox is already making plans to recreate characters from Ubisoft’s games. Guillaume Mammi, Ubisoft’s senior manager for partnerships and new businesses, commented his excitement over their cooperation to bring Rabbids into the metaverse.
Ubisoft is not the first or the last game company involved with the metaverse and NFTs. This trend has changed the traditional understanding of gaming that many have. The future of gaming seems to be centered around personalized digital assets that players own in NFTs. Those blockchain-powered proofs of ownership can be exchanged and traded in the metaverse.
The deal with The Sandbox is far from Ubisoft’s first NFT venture. In December, Ubisoft launched Quartz, a platform that allows for the buying and selling of NFTs, labeled as “unique digital items.”
The move was met with a lot of backlash. Many gamers feel that the inclusion of NFTs into gaming may ruin the experience and unnecessarily monetize the game. To many critics involved in the gaming community, NFTs are just another way to increase their profits.
The backlash against NFTs isn’t unique to Ubisoft. Team17, the developers of the Worms franchise, had to cancel their NFT project less than 24 hours after it was announced because of the boycott from fans and business partners.
Even though the extent of the backlash against Ubisoft is yet to be calculated, the company has not given any sign of intending to reverse its plan. Quite the opposite, Nicolas Pouard, Ubisoft’s vice president of its Strategic Innovations Lab, mentioned that gamers might not have the needed long-term vision to realize the “utility” that NFTs can offer to the gaming world.
