Photo: Courtesy of www.ubisoft.com

A leading video game developer has entered the non-fungible token market in the first of what could be several video game companies getting more involved in the growing space.

What Happened

Game publisher Ubisoft Entertainment (UBSFY) launched in-game NFT items, starting with “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.” Ubisoft Quartz is a new platform from the gaming company that will allow gamers to earn and purchase items that are tokenized as NFTs. The NFT drops will be called “Digits” by Ubisoft. NFT drops occurred on Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, and an additional drop is planned for Dec. 15.

“Ubisoft Quartz is a new experience for our players, built upon our vision of creating an ever-greater connection between you and the game worlds you love,” Ubisoft’s website says. Gamers have to reach level 5 in the game and be 18 years of age or older in order to earn and buy the NFTs.

The new NFT platform from Ubisoft runs on proof-of-stake blockchain Tezos (XTZ-X). Tezos claims that its transactions use 2 million times less energy than Bitcoin (BITCOMP).

“Ubisoft Quartz is the first building block in our ambitious vision for developing a true metaverse,” Ubisoft Strategic Innovation Lab VP Nicolas Pourad said. Gamers can buy NFTs from Ubisoft and also buy and sell the NFTs on third-party marketplaces including rarible.com and objkt.com.

Why It’s Important

Ubisoft has been active in the blockchain and cryptocurrency spaces for years. The company began exploring NFTs years ago with a prototype game called “HashCraft” that was developed in 2019. Ubisoft has also supported NFTs like Axie Infinity and NBA Top Shot.

Ubisoft became a corporate validator in April 2021 for the Tezos network. Ubisoft is one of the largest video game publishers in the world with popular franchises including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry. Ubisoft hinted that more NFTs could be coming to “Ghost Recon Breakpoint” or other franchised games. “This is just the beginning,” Ubisoft’s website said.

Ubisoft could keep its gamers more engaged by offering the ability to earn and sell NFTs. Future announcements of other Ubisoft games adopting NFTs could prove to be a catalyst for the company and its shares. 

Price Action

UBSFY shares are down 50% year-to-date in 2021. Tezos saw a gain in valuation earlier in the week on the Ubisoft announcement and has recently been seen trading at $4.56 at the time of writing.