Ubisoft, the games industry’s famous arbiter of well-received publisher decisions, has doubled down on its “Web3” initiatives, per a new VentureBeat interview with its head of blockchain.
Nicolas Pouard explains to VentureBeat that the game publisher has continued its efforts to delve into Web3 technology, games, and technology. However, instead of massive swathes of effort, there’s better focus on smaller communities and an Asian audience, with several games and studios under its wing and a new game to be announced.
He also went a little bit into the lessons learned by a prior Ghost Recon debacle, where fans pushed back against a “Quartz” cosmetic system linked to the blockchain.
“We learned that we need to offer a very specific experience around Web3 for people who want this kind of experiment,” he said of the hindsight of implementing Quartz. “It’s still very new, very innovative. We see that it’s a new market. At the time we were thinking that it wasn’t a market per se, but more like a technology layer that we could add to existing games. Now we know that there are people who want this kind of experience, and we should work both for and with those people.”
This theme repeats throughout the interview, talking about the sharper, more intentional focus for Ubisoft’s Web3 efforts. For instance, there’s more direct communication with, and listening to, the Web3 communities (including Discord server with “thousands” of players) where Ubisoft is present, including for its own games. The team has also stuck to NFTs instead of tokens to be mindful of international regulations, and focused on Asian audiences, who are subject to less regulations. Recently, Ubisoft closed NFT sales for Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles.
Pouard is also determined that making a successful blockchain-linked game is about designing the game in a way where the blockchain can actually be integrated. However, he admits in five years of such development in the Web3 and gaming spaces, there’s just been no results… yet? On that question of outlook, he compared Web3 to the development of “neural networks in AI” (i.e. current “AI” and machine learning outputs).
“We need to keep working on this, because it’s the only way to know if the value proposition for the players is worth something or not,” Pouard told VentureBeat. “We haven’t had any real proof for the last five years because the games weren’t at the level users expected. We need that to happen at some point: a proper game using this technology. We have to continue.” The optimism is admirable.
The whole interview is a fascinating insight, at least, into the current mentality and state of Web3.
