Ubisoft has tried to enter the world of NFTs and the metaverse with full force but is facing a massive struggle by internal opposition to the change.
Earlier this week, an internal message board tried to make another convincing case but failed to win over employees. NFTs and cryptocurrencies were a very promising and hyped feature at the beginning of 2021 but have slowly disappeared from the projects of many game companies.
This seems to be the case for major publishers and indie studios who have either halted their projects or stopped them altogether with no plans for renewal. The sole exception to this decision is Ubisoft, no matter the internal and external pushback from employees and gamers.
The internal message was met with a lot of criticism. One employee asked sarcastically whether Ubisoft was “competing with EA for the ‘Most hated game studio by the public’ title.” Others have called it a “deeply embarrassing day” and have made references to previous scandals related to workplace misconduct that has occurred in the workplace.
“Our confidence in management was already shaken by the handling of harassment claims, and now this?” asks one employee.
A Ubisoft representative spoke over email with PC Gamer and went to explain that “How players can benefit is and always will be at the core of our thinking.”
Adding to that, the representative reminded us that At Ubisoft, we value these internal exchanges and think they help make our games and our company stronger. However, sharing confidential information, including from internal forums, is a violation of our employment agreement and, more importantly, a violation of the trust that team members place in each other to freely express themselves and have candid, productive discussions. In light of that, we won’t comment further.”
Nicolas Picard, vice president of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovations Lab, has been adamant in believing that “gamers don’t get what a digital secondary market can bring to them.”
Even though technology is a means to an end, many have found a fundamental problem that Ubisoft has no clear long-term strategy and goal that they wish to achieve.
Many have raised points that all the necessary mechanisms for an enjoyable and immersive video game experience already exist, and having digital cosmetics through NFTs isn’t compelling if at all necessary.
