In a move they must know everyone will hate, Ubisoft is getting into blockchain.
In the company’s second quarterly earnings report, posted yesterday, Ubisoft announced it is “exploring blockchain”.
According to the report, the company has been interested in blockchain “since the early development of the technology”. It also said that Ubisoft had “recently [taken] part in the latest funding round of Animoca Brands”. Animoca Brands describes itself as “the global leader in blockchain gaming.” Ubisoft claims “This long-range exploration ties in with Ubisoft’s constant search for innovation and new ways to empower players as true stakeholders of its worlds.”
Blockchain is a sort of database. It stores data in “blocks”. When that block is full, a new block is started that’s chained together. Typically, blockchain is directly connected to things like cryptocurrency and NFTs (non-fungible-tokens). It’s incredibly important to note that cryptocurrency and NFTs are incredibly bad for the environment.
block the blockchain
Ubisoft getting into blockchain could potentially be bad for the wider gaming industry. If more companies do this, it becomes more normalised. Industry giant Valve recently announced it would be banning all games that feature crypto and NFTs. Hopefully more companies will follow in its footsteps.
At this point in time, it honestly seems like Ubisoft is incapable of making good decisions. This is the same company that is failing to protect it’s staff. Investing in a scheme that causes such long term damage is in line with their previous actions. But it needs to change.
The company seems to be taking an approach of publicly ignoring any criticism towards it. It has claimed to have made significant changes. But its employees argue otherwise. It’s likely there will be employees unhappy with the decision to invest into blockchain. How Ubisoft will engage in blockchain remains to be seen. Hopefully it’ll reverse its decision to do so before any damage is done.
Featured Image Credit: Credit: Ubisoft/ Blockchain