Ubisoft Ends NFT Support for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Will Pursue Other NFT Plans

Video game giant Ubisoft has announced that it will not create new content for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, one of its triple-A games that had NFTs integrated into it. Ubisoft thanked players who had claimed an NFT, saying they “left a mark” in history, but did not clarify whether there would be any use cases for those digital assets in its future games. 

Ubisoft Ends Support for Ghost Recon Breakpoint

In an announcement on Tuesday, Ubisoft revealed that it has ended development support for Ghost Recon Breakpoint, adding that the game will not receive new content, updates, or NFTs. Notably, the company said it will continue to maintain servers for the game.

In a separate message on the Ubisoft Quartz digits site, the company thanked players who had claimed their “Digits,” which are some form of dynamic NFTs. It said:

“You own a piece of the game and have left your mark in its history. As the last Digit for Ghost Recon Breakpoint was released on 3/17/2022, stay tuned for more updates with features to the platform and future drops coming with other games!”

Digits NFT holders still have the option to put their digital assets on sale on secondary marketplaces. However, it remains to be seen if those NFTs can fetch any bids. As of now, it is largely unclear whether Ubisoft will announce use cases for those NFTs, or make them transferable to future games in some way.

Notably, another NFT game has also been recently shut down. In mid-March, blockchain games developer and investor Animoca Brands revealed that it will cease operations since it was not able to renew its license with Formula 1. 

The game allowed players to buy and trade NFTs of cars, accessories, and drivers, some of which were sold out for millions of dollars. In an auction last year, the game’s ultra-rare “70th Anniversary Edition” Apex race car sold for around $265,000. However, the developers said they would consider numerous options to reward NFT holders. 

“We are taking measures to offer players and asset holders ways in which they can participate in the wider REVV Motorsport ecosystem, which includes MotoGP™ Ignition, Formula E: High Voltage, REVV Racing, and Torque Drift. We begin to outline some of these measures below.”

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Studios Claim NFTs Add Value, but Players View it as a Cash Grab

Some popular games have added support for blockchain-based innovations in a bid to improve the player experience, add value to the game, and better connect with players. However, players claim that these NFTs are simply a cash grab and don’t add any value to the game. 

More notably, Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint game received a massive backlash after unveiling NFT integration. On Reddit, in a post titled ‘Do not support “Quartz”, the new NFT Ubisoft marketplace‘, players even asked for a boycott of all Ubisoft games. The reception to NFTs was equally negative on YouTube, where one user claimed Ubisoft is trying to solve a problem that does not exist:

“There are a small set of important problems that the blockchain model solves but that’s about it. But it seems like often times people expect you to shove these into products where they are not needed. With this whole NFT thing, they’re literally coming up with a cool solution and then trying to find a problem that can be solved by it.”

Despite the backlash, Ubisoft has made it clear that they intend to continue NFT plans. In late December, the gaming company partnered with Aleph.im, a cross-blockchain decentralized storage and computing network, to launch dynamic NFTs. And prior to that, the company had partnered with blockchain company Ultra. 

Moreover, Ubisoft spokesperson Jessica Roache has recently told The Verge that the company will resume exploring “what decentralization can bring to gaming.” She said:

“As the last Ghost Recon Breakpoint Digit was released on March 17, we will now look to continue our exploration by improving the value proposition of the platform with new projects and features.”

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