Blockchain gaming firm Immutable announces a partnership with Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab to develop Web3 games.
Individual creators will ultimately shape the metaverse: Sandbox founders
As the firm moves to open up The Sandbox Map, co-founder Sebastian Borget said he believes individual creators and brands will ultimately drive what the metaverse of the future will offer.
Reddit collectible avatars onboard nearly 10M into the crypto, NFT space
The popular social platform is about to hit a big milestone in terms of collectible avatar holders after launching “Reddit NFTs” in July 2022.
Nifty News: Assassin’s Creed unveils ‘smart collectibles’, MechaFightClub winds down and more ….
NFT game MechaFightClub is shutting down due to the regulatory uncertainty in the U.S., while Yuga Lab’s new CEO has snapped up a BAYC NFT well over the floor price.
Ubisoft cools off on NFTs and blockchain, says it’s in ‘research mode’
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot appears to be walking back some of the company’s enthusiasm for NFTs, months after receiving strong pushback for its NFT project Quartz.
White Star Capital raises $120M for Ubisoft backed Web3 investment fund
The Web3 tech investment firm will contribute up to $7 million to as many as 25 companies across Europe, Asia, and North America with the new funds.
Game Giant Konami Joins NFT Race, To Launch With Castlevania Video Game Franchise
Video Game Giant Konami is launching a NFT auction to commemorate the “Castlevania” franchise. The box will include 14 tokens, audio files, and poster art showing scenes from early Nintendo games. The auction will begin the next week, January 12, 2022.
Konami To Launch With Castlevania Commemorative NFTs
The Castlevania 35th Anniversary NFT collection online portal was unveiled by Konami on Thursday. The collection will be auctioned off on the NFT marketplace Opensea. The NFTs from Konami will pay tribute to the franchise, which began with the Nintendo Entertainment System game “Castlevania” in 1986. (NES).
Scenes from several series entries on the NES and its Japanese equivalent, the Famicom, are included in the NFT collection. Original pixel graphics of Dracula’s Castle, poster art for the Title Boy Advance game “Castlevania: Circle of the Moon,” and audio for the recurring music theme “Vampire Killer” are among the other tokens in the collection.
Related article | Eminem Buys Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT That Looks Like Him For $452K
Unlike other non-fungible tokens from gaming firms, these NFTs will not have any in-game utility.. They’re just trinkets to commemorate the series’ 35th anniversary.
#悪魔城ドラキュラ シリーズ35周年を記念して、過去作品のゲームシーンやBGM、メインビジュアル等を用いたNFTアートのオークション販売が決定しました!NFTは全14種各1点ずつ。詳細は公式サイトでご確認ください。https://t.co/AZXKsPCvm2オークションは1月13日7時より開始予定です!#Castlevania pic.twitter.com/B7dVK5ZYwo
— KONAMI コナミ公式 (@KONAMI573ch) January 6, 2022
ETH/USD falls to $3,200. Source: TradingView
Other Gaming Companies Have Jumped On NFTs
Several game companies are interested in NFTs. Ubisoft, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, and GameStop have all announced plans to deploy NFT products and services, or have tentative plans to do so.
Ubisoft, has previously released NFTs for use in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint on a PC (PC). The move was chastised for the NFTs aspects and for the usability of NFT products.
The news from Konami coincides with SEGA’s recent revelation that it may abandon its NFT plans owing to poor reception. SEGA first unveiled its plans for NFT in March 2020.
Konami’s debut into the NFT space has been mocked by some video game players. Conversations regarding the company’s NFTs have been strewn across social media since Thursday.
Related article | How NFTs are Fueling the Anime Community in Japan
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GameStop Turn To NFTs, Plans To Launch Marketplace Later In The Year
Video game retailer GameStop has entered the non-fungible token (NFT) space. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is forming a division to develop a marketplace for non-fungible tokens and form cryptocurrency partnerships with crypto firms.
GameStop To Build NFT Marketplace
According to the WSJ story, the company has employed more than 20 individuals to oversee the unit, which is developing an online hub for buying, selling, and trading NFTs of virtual videogame artifacts like avatar clothing and weaponry.
GameStop launched its NFT website last year and has been inviting creators to join the platform.
The company is also close to signing deals with two crypto startups to exchange technology and co-invest in the creation of blockchain and NFT-based games, as well as other NFT-related initiatives. According to the report, the store plans to get into similar deals with a dozen or more crypto startups this year and invest millions of dollars in them.
GameStop restructured its leadership team and board of directors last year, appointing activist investor Ryan Cohen as chairman.This has has pushed GameStop to become more tech-focused.
Related article | Only In Crypto: A Croissant Breaks Down How GameStop & NFTs Will Boost Ethereum
GME Price Rise In Response
Last January, GameStop’s stock skyrocketed after Reddit stock traders began buying the shares. The stock began trading at $18 in 2021 and reached a high of $483 a year later. Multiple congressional hearings and federal agency probes were held as a result of the unprecedented volatility.
The stock of GameStop ended at $131 on Thursday, but has already risen to $172 in after-hours trading.
GME trading at $163 post-market following the news. Source: TradingView
The news propelled GME shares substantially higher after hours in what appears to be yet another short squeeze, which will be great news to longs who had seen the stock price fall.
Some of the industry’s largest companies in the videogame business, including Ubisoft Entertainment, Zynga Inc., and Square Enix Holdings Co., have started or announced plans to sell NFTs in recent weeks. However, some industry leaders and players have expressed reservations about the value of NFTs and the motivations of their developers.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on GameStop’s physical storefronts, the WS Journal’s report presented the GameStop NFT strategy as one targeted at increasing the company’s overall financial performance.
Related article | Why was 2021 an important year for NFT?
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Riding On Recent NFT boom, Game Publisher Ubisoft Pushes For NFT Adoption
Ubisoft entered the NFT market after Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint was announced as the first game to provide NFTs in a beta trial in select countries.
Ubisoft Quartz, an NFT venture that allows players to buy artificially rare digital products with bitcoin, was launched earlier this month. The AAA industry’s first real venture into NFTs was announced with this announcement.
How successful has Ubisoft’s entrance into the blockchain been in just over a month after its announcement?
Ubisoft’s NFTs Fail At Launch
The publisher’s initial blockchain-based virtual items, unique numbered items for Ghost Recon Breakpoint players, aren’t exactly in high demand.
Ubisoft Digits are in-game virtual items with distinct serial numbers that are part of Ubisoft’s Quartz “experience.” Rather than slightly different photos of poorly drawn monkeys, Digits are in-game cosmetic objects with unique serial numbers. A rifle skin that requires users to reach XP level five, a pair of pants that requires 100 hours of play, and a mask that takes 600 hours of play are among the first items available for free to players who meet specified playtime or account level requirements.
However, it doesn’t look like the virtual items sold much at launch.
According to Eurogamer, Quartz has only sold 15 NFTs of a Ghost Recon Breakpoint gun skin as of yesterday. It looks to have sold two more M4A1 tactical weapons and one Wolf Enhance Pants #76 for a total of 18 M4A1 tactical weapons as of yesterday. That amounts to around $1,755.30 in revenue, based on their prices. However, Ubisoft appears to have produced around 3,000 NFTs in all. Breakpoint doesn’t have the most appealing visual aesthetic — nor is it the largest Ubisoft IP — making it a strange pick to begin off Ubisoft’s NFT efforts, as many have pointed out.
how are the ghost recon NFTs doing? I looked at the 2 3rd party marketplaces the Quartz site links and there seems to be… 15 sales total? 0 in the last day on 1 site? am i reading this right? pic.twitter.com/rWxvEW3Nrh
— Liz Edwards (@lizaledwards) December 20, 2021
However, it should be noted that Ubisoft is giving away the majority of its NFTs at first, which will restrict the number of purchases. Nonetheless, it appears that the publisher’s experiment with NFTs hasn’t gone as planned.
Furthermore, Quartz is built such that only Ubisoft game players can purchase an NFT, making it less appealing to those trying to make quick cash. Getting non-players to put in hundreds of hours in order to “own” a helmet that they can only resale to other players who have put in hundreds of hours is a futile endeavor.
BTC trades at $48k. Source: TradingView
Related article | Ethereum Recovers 6%: Are Investors Compelled by Ubisoft Experimenting With Blockchain?
Ubisoft Doubles Down
It appears that Ubisoft is bent on NFT adoption despite the fail of its initial offerings.
Didier Genevois, Ubisoft’s blockchain director, told Decrypt that the publisher will go through with its NFT plans while adhering to its “principles,” as he puts it:
“This experiment is designed to see how our gamers respond to and accept the value proposition of decentralization. We recognize that this is a significant adjustment that will take time, but we will stick to our three principles.”
“Use the technology responsibly and build a safe environment” for players to explore the new frontier of NFTs, “only leverage energy-efficient proof-of-stake blockchains,” and “focus on the meaningful value propositions for players that benefit their gaming experience,” are the three principles he’s referring to. At this time, it’s unclear how any of these three ideas are being implemented.
It’s apparent that AAA game publishers may have a hard time jumping on the NFT train as it seems the gaming world is not ready for play-to-earn games. It might also be that Ubisoft purported launch was a fail becuase of the strategy and virtual items involved. Time will tell as more big players enter the game.
Related article | CryptoKitties Team To Join Ubisoft at Blockchain Heroes Hackathon
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Gamer-hate: Ubisoft’s new NFT project vid gets 96% dislike ratio
The top comment on Ubisoft’s YouTube video introducing its NFTs has more likes than the actual video, and slams the firm for “milking” money from its customers.
Ubisoft will seek to invest in and create blockchain games
The firm is backing Animoca Brands, creator of popular metaverse game The Sandbox.
Gaming giant Ubisoft to become corporate baker on Tezos network
Popular French video game publisher Ubisoft is set to become a validator node on the Tezos ecosystem.
Axie Infinity Launches Public Testnet of Ronin Sidechain to ‘Scale Even Faster’
Axie Infinity has launched the public testnet of its Ronin sidechain with video game giant Ubisoft as an initial validator.
Ubisoft Backs New Blockchain Group to Spur Adoption in Gaming
Gaming giant Ubisoft has become an inaugural member of the new Blockchain Game Alliance, which aims to develop common standards for the technology.
Video Game Giant Ubisoft Is Exploring Blockchain Use Cases
Ubisoft, the company behind Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance, is exploring applications of blockchain for video games.