What can I say except: "You're welcome!"
I see Ubisoft in this age as a fulcrum placed precariously between the next big grift of the entire gaming industry and a tidal wave of backlash and outright rejection that they've only begun to uncork, and for which I'm not entirely sold they can withstand nearly as well as they seem to think that they can. All over the place we're seeing ominous ultimatums from less scrupulous corners of the gaming world start to wax lyrical about the magical 'interconnected ecosystem' only accessible through copious and unregulated amounts of expensive NFT sales for which the publishers will net in stupid profits. (What a coincidence that the apparent next revolution of game design just naturally coincidences with the heft of the CEO's bank account. Who'd have figured?) But it's all just posturing for the moment and rhetoric it will stay whilst the only AAA studio dumb enough to bite the bullet early and be the industry litmus test, Ubisoft, drunkenly stumbles around like a toddler with a chainsaw, totally oblivious to the insanely dangerous tool they wield for everyone around them and themselves, but giddy about the fun noises and sounds their shiny new toy is exhibiting.
It's so fitting, that a studio renowned, heck, defined, by their terminal lack of originality and inability to innovate in any meaningful fashion despite their garish size and resources, would finally find their break and be the leader of the industry for the first time in an age, but with a lazy player-unfriendly scheme that has generated nothing but bad press for them every step of the way. It's like the ultimate rake-step move, you couldn't write a better stupid arc for a stupid company run by stupid people. But here we are; Ubisoft are the steaming epicentre of AAA NFT works in the gaming world and like-it-or-not, their every single move is destined to have a ripple effect on how the community views NFTs and in relation the rest of the world. You might think I'm overselling the position that Ubisoft is in right now, but let's explore that for a second.
So NFT's are an inherently difficult-to-explain concept to your average person, (it must be, given the amount of company heads who throw it's name around despite clearly having no idea what it even is) and that makes it easy to exploit it's image. Those with the money and desire to control (which just so happens to be NFTs current sole audience) can force their latest crypto scheme onto the zeitgeist of today through events like that awful Jimmy Kimmel interview, or paid-for positive web articles, (I've seen that a lot) as well as more traditional methods such as wash trading to inflate the value of NFTs and make them seem like the new age gold rush. ('Wash trading' is market manipulation through buying and selling of the same items. It was recently proven to be happening within the NFT space. It's also illegal.) Left unchecked, the result would be that NFTs slowly take over the news-space with positive coverage and gradually become an accepted part of modern vernacular and culture, where people don't have to try and understand it because it's just there now. Which expands the pool of available rubes for these Crypto bros to exploit. Or at least that would be the case.
But NFTs are a laughing stock. Every single positive article is overshadowed by a dozen negative reactions, and a large part of this abject rejection originates from the gaming space. Because we've been exploited and belittled every which way under the sun, we don't trust a single speck of crap which flies out of the mouths of publisher giants whenever they try their new swindle, as such we could see right through this NFT scheme the moment it was first announced, and some of us are very vocal. Stalker 2 pulling it's NFT plans, that was because of vocal gamers. Troy Baker officially distancing himself from a voice-acting NFT project, both because of gamer backlash and because he was a bit of a chode in the announcement tweet. And Ubisoft's sweetly optimistic adoption of all things NFT going forward? That is being dogged by us to the letter. This backlash gets attention, that attention attracts news stories, and people who read these headlines that might have otherwise been clueless start to realise exactly what NFTs are and usually don't take too long before starting to actively reject them in kind. Like I said, it's a tidal wave of pushback that it destined only to grow, and with Ubisoft as the industry's unwitting vanguard in this endeavour; the next two years of their conduct could shape the public perception of this whole movement.
And boy are they doing a hilariously poor job of selling it so far. There was the horribly dire situation with the NFT gear that Ubisoft was hawking off on, already-struggling game, 'Ghost Recon: Breakpoint'. They wanted to sink that game's reputation even lower by advertising just the most embarrassing collection possible where players were incentivised to turn in their 600 play hour time in order to receive a stupid looking tactical helmet with a unique serial number posted on the side. Needless to say, most of these hats went unclaimed, but as with any grift there were a few who bought into the hype. I've seen at least one community-made tutorial on how to claim the helmet which proves well enough that he, at least, sacrificed his dignity for Ubisoft's gain. Still, first adoption saw Ubisoft losing out from gas prices, and some part of me hopes they still haven't managed a profit even after all this time. (It's a pretty big part of me actually. I'm vindictive.)
But one aspect of that debacle I failed to cover (They hadn't spoken out by the time I was writing that blog) is how the actually hard-working developers of Ghost Recon, struggling to win over an apathetic public, felt about being used like a guinea pig. They ah- they didn't like it. Apparently there's this strange phenomena going around where people who aren't currently rich and so don't stand to benefit from this whole NFT movement, don't at all care for it's implementation. (Weird) This mandate felt forced upon them, and it totally undermined all their efforts of community outreach in favour of toeing some very unfriendly waters. Well Ubisoft is always a company that knows how to treat it's people right, and so in recompense for this kick-to-the-balls, management has decided to reward it's employees with NFT hats.
Look, I'm not- I'm not making this up. I wouldn't think to make up anything this hilariously sad. Like your grandmother going out of her way to buy you something for your birthday that you really don't want and wish she just gave you the money to buy something yourself; grandpappy Ubisoft decided that a flat bonus wouldn't be nearly as dear as an NFT, which has a miniscule chance to grow in value! (Of course, if it does and the employee then sells it, Ubisoft sneaks some of the profits. How is this allowed?) Reactions have been aghast from insiders and I'd imagine that most who haven't yet spoekn out, still haven't recovered from that state of shocked bittersweet admiration of the sheer balls it takes to do something like this to your own employees. I mean Ubisoft just has to assume that everyone has a wallet, is willing to share that address to their employer, and is lacking enough in self-pride to flaunt this embarrassment as their newest plaything on all social media. I don't even think South Park could tale a joke so perfectly twisted.
Strauss Zelnick have recently come out to confirm his definite interest in exploring NFTs, and through him (being CEO of Take-Two) that puts the next GTA in danger, Activision is flirting with the idea and thus so is Blizzard, and I'd wager that Bethesda it adding up it's odds as well. Ubisoft is the sacrificial pig, and if the offering turns sour, they will be the hill that this NFT fad dies on. And so I say to keep on the pressure, the mocking, the abject rejection of all things non-fungible and with luck, maybe, we'll be able to rout the age of 'for-profit' gaming that these ghouls in suits think we're too dumb enough to see barrelling our way to taint this pastime a little bit more. And if the mark of resistance is as simple as pointing at laughing at the absolute state of a studio that Ubisoft already was, then I'd say that's something we can all get behind, no?
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