Ubisoft calling gamers clueless about NFTs is the latest in a long string of insults

Ubisoft Source: Ubisoft

If you lot're a gamer(TM), so you've likely played a Ubisoft game. Even if you don't retrieve the name of it, since they're increasingly all blending into the aforementioned outpost-filled open-earth organisation of haphazardly strewn-together missions and cookie-cutter characters, you've probably ventured through an Assassinator's Creed, Far Weep, or Ghost Recon title. Just in case the games themselves didn't adequately illustrate the truth of the thing at hand, do you want more show as to just how little the company behind those products thinks of its customers? Based on its recent non-fungible token (NFT) comments: It thinks very, very lilliputian of its players.

In an interview with Finder, Nicolas Pouard, a Ubisoft Strategic Innovations Lab vice president, had this to say about his visitor's NFT endeavor and gamers' responses to it: "And so, it'south really, for them. It'south really beneficial. But they don't get it for now."

He also talks about how time is needed to finer mold gamers' mindsets. Information technology sounds eerily similar to someone talking near using Pavlovian training methods on a canis familiaris. But this sort of "gamers are idiots that need to be led to more monetizable pastures" talk isn't new for Ubisoft. The company's deportment and products have been illustrating that ethos for over a decade.

A trip down memory lane

Xbox back compat Source: Microsoft

Lest ye recall this sudden belittling tone from Ubisoft is a shocking pivot for the company, permit'southward go dorsum in time to 2022 when it hopped on the online pass bandwagon in order to curb resales of used copies of games (not a uniquely evil innovation since EA was too big on information technology, but nevertheless, gross). Or, the company's repeated abandonment of Steam, one of the nigh consumer-friendly PC gaming stores, in pursuit of bolstering Uplay/Ubisoft Connect or, in recent years, its partnership with Epic Games (again, not unique to Ubisoft).

Just beyond those two old-school examples of Ubisoft non prioritizing consumer happiness and wellbeing, there are many more examples that are uniquely spring to the company'south legacy. Take, for case, its repeated instances of flagrantly false advertising with its E3 showcases. Exist it Rainbow Six Siege, The Partitioning, or Watch_Dogs, non a single release in any of those series, to this day, looks as good every bit the advertised "gameplay" provided by Ubisoft over the form of the 2022s. Seriously, recollect when Watch_Dogs was advertised as an Xbox 360 game with presentations that had better graphics than anything that's still to release on the Xbox Serial X? That'southward the company we're dealing with here.

Nosotros're too dealing with the company that loves to trend hop as soon as information technology sees the opportunity to potentially brand a quick buck. Hyper Scape, anyone?

And it gets amend. Recall when Ubisoft reinvented the Assassinator's Creed franchise to no longer resemble Air-conditioning, and instead tacked on the proper name to a bog-standard western RPG formula — with the added barrier of mandatory XP grinding to achieve story missions. The company was considerate enough to add XP booster microtransactions to its games in case yous wanted to speed things up, only they weren't mandatory. Oh, no, never mandatory. So long every bit you had dozens of hours to waste grinding on irksome side quests, you'd never demand to spend on a microtransaction even once.

Bringing it all dwelling house

Smoke Source: Ubisoft

Whether it's another company's money-grubbing innovation that Ubisoft wants to chase, or its own homebrew solutions such every bit aggressively misleading advertising to swindle buyers and "optional" microtransactions woven into games that punish y'all for playing them, this is a company that has, ever since the early 2022s, placed an emphasis on disrespecting its customers and gamers in general.

So when Ubisoft announces its NFT plans and then tells you, the consumer, that yous don't "get it" even so and that you need to take a mindset adjustment to tolerate its latest defilement of the gaming landscape, don't be surprised. The vast majority of bad trends in gaming have had the support of Ubisoft. This is just one of those rare instances where Ubisoft says what it's really thinking out loud, rather than only illustrating it through actions.

As to why you lot should intendance about this latest move, the NFT craze takes things a step farther than the usual case of Ubisoft finding fresh ways to disrespect the people who keep information technology solvent. NFTs and their associated blockchains oftentimes have a negative impact on the environs, have dubious (at best) ownership power, and are one more way to inject post-buy monetization schemes into AAA releases that already cost a lot upfront, especially if Ubisoft manages to hogtie you to buy one of its games' more expensive "gold" or "ultimate" editions but and so yous have access to the full experience.

The visitor claims that its NFT operation, dubbed Ubisoft Quartz, is energy efficient. But information technology's yet to thoroughly establish something equally important: That Ubisoft Quartz is consumer friendly and non just another inexpensive, dime-a-dozen ploy to rake in greenbacks. Based on the publisher's previous moves, don't hold your jiff on pro-client motives being proven truthful anytime soon.

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