Here’s a phrase that’s starting to become a cliche: ‘Ubisoft had a pretty terrible year this year.’ I’m not going to run down the entire timeline of travesties, but here are just a few fumbles to jog your memory.
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Skull & Bones launched and was as big of a dud as everyone knew it would be. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown came out and it was great! But it also flopped, and Ubisoft laid off a big chunk of its dev team. In March, Ubi debuted new tech for NPCs with AI-generated dialogue, which everyone hated. XDefiant launched and then shut down. The Division Heartland got canceled. Assassin’s Creed Shadows became the main battlefield of the DEI culture war, Ubisoft handled the controversy poorly, then delayed the game. Star Wars Outlaws came out to a lukewarm reception, which should probably be considered good news for Ubisoft, all things considered.
As rumors swirl that the company is facing a potential buyout, you’d think that Ubisoft would be doing everything it can to refocus and get back to making games people love. Instead, it’s wasting a bunch of time and money on sketchy NFT games. I’ll never wish for anything bad to happen to Ubisoft, but the company is sure making itself real hard to root for.
Ubisoft Isn’t Letting Up On Its Blockchain Ambitions
Ubisoft has been experimenting with NFT and blockchain junk since at least 2021. You may remember the seemingly abandoned Quartz platform and its Digits – NFT items used in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Despite a ton of backlash from players and employees, Ubisoft pushed ahead with that doomed program, and though its blockchain strategy has changed direction several times over the last three years, it hasn’t given up the dream.
At the end of October it launched Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, a marketplace for NFT figurines disguised as a game. Like every crypto game, the simplistic 3v3 tabletop strategy game gave investors an excuse to pump the value of its digital collectibles sky-high. Today you’ll find dozens of listings for digital figurines that cost between $100 and $1 million.
Last week, Ubisoft launched another NFT game: Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E. Based on the Netflix animated series spin-off to the Far Cry 3’s Blood Dragon DLC, Captain Laserhawk is a top-down shooter featuring Rayman where players face off on a grid-like battlefield using a variety of – oh forget it. You know what this is. It’s a lazy excuse to create yet another marketplace where people can move around a bunch of money and Ubisoft can play middle man.
Ubisoft Should Show More Respect For Its IP
It stinks to watch Ubisoft throw away any shred of goodwill it has left for a quick buck. Captain Laserhawk isn’t exactly a beloved classic, but Rayman certainly is, and as the announcer and mascot of the game, Ubisoft is showing very little respect for its own IP when it uses them to rep these revolting crypto projects. The lack of communication and marketing around the game, which secretly launched in early access last week, makes me think Ubisoft is at the very least aware that this is going to be extremely unpopular with its audience. So why even do it?
I haven’t played it myself (because you have to buy an NFT to play it) but Stephen Totilo did a great write-up about it for Polygon, and it sounds like Captain Laserhawk is exactly what you’d think it is. A hollow husk of a game with nothing interesting or new to offer beyond the opportunity to buy cheap characters, level them up, and sell them for a profit. In other words, a side hustle disguised as a game.
I don’t know what the future of Web3 and blockchain technology is going to be or how it will impact games, but so far no one has been able to demonstrate a single benefit to players. None of this tech is making games better, more engaging, or giving us anything new. So far all we’re seeing is the beginning of a new era of gig culture, and I’m disgusted to see Ubisoft using its IP to entice its fans into such an exploitative waste of time.
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