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Ubisoft has shared a few footnotes on its plans of developing play-to-earn blockchain games. The company, during a Q2 earnings call, picked up on the subject of blockchain games several times, also mentioning it in its earnings report. It is worth noting that Ubisoft is a founding member of the Blockchain Game Alliance and has been a key investor in blockchain-focussed developer Animoca Brands. The company has also been dabbling with blockchain tech since 2018 through contributions in its Strategic Innovation Lab that deals with new technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), crypto, and blockchain.
Although not a lot has been detailed just yet, Ubisoft is clear on developing games that support a form of monetization referred to as pay-to-win — a concept through which game developers reward players in cryptocurrency, in exchange for playing a game. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot elaborated on this during the company’s most recent earnings call.
The executive, who believes blockchain is “very attractive for the long term,” stated that the company is interested in developing digital economies. “As you see, this industry is changing regularly with lots of new revolutions happening. We consider blockchain one of those revolutions. It will imply more play-to-earn that will enable more players to actually earn content, own content, and we think it’s going to grow the industry quite a lot,” Guillemot stated during the earnings call.
“So, we have been working with lots of small companies going on the blockchain, and we’re starting to have a good know-how on how we can impact the industry. We want to be one of the key players there.” the CEO added.
As for the entry of blockchain technology and NFTs into the gaming space, there a major disruption in the offing although the industry has factions against it too. The prominence of games like Axie Infinity proves how big the market is for big names like Ubisoft and Epic Games to get into. Meanwhile, the likes of Valve has already decided to remove blockchain and NFTs on Steam.
All said and done, it’s still too early to assume what Ubisoft’s contributions to crypto games will be. Whether it plans on rolling NFTs into the rewards structure of its open-world franchises or creating entirely new blockchain games, we will have to wait for more headwinds.