Ubisoft think people "don't get" the thrilling benefits of NFT items

rockpapershotgun.com:

Ubisoft were the first huge games company to excitedly launch a line of NFTs then be told by almost everyone no, don't do that, it sucks. Well done, almost everyone! In a new interview, Ubisoft's blockchain boys have said people "don't get it".

In December 2021, Ubisoft launched a blockchain platform called Quartz, which they would use for NFT virtual items named Digits. They started out with a line of numbered hats and guns in Ghost Recon Breakpoint. The trailer announcing that soon sat with 96% thumbs-down on YouTube, and I don't know anyone who found the prospect exciting in any way.

On Thursday, Finder published an interview with Nicolas Pouard, VP at Ubisoft's Strategic Innovations Lab, and Ubisoft blockchain technical director Didier Genevois. Amidst platitudes like "players are always right. Because they are our players, and we love them. And so, they're always right", they explained why they think their players are wrong.

"I think gamers don't get what a digital secondary market can bring to them," Pouard said. "For now, because of the current situation and context of NFTs, gamers really believe it's first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation. But what we [at Ubisoft] are seeing first is the end game. The end game is about giving players the opportunity to resell their items once they're finished with them or they're finished playing the game itself. So, it's really, for them. It's really beneficial. But they don't get it for now.

Genevois mentioned that only 2500 of Breakpoint's free NFTs were claimed in the first fortnight.

Pouard also repeated Ubisoft's interest in the "play-to-earn" model, where games can be in some way profitable for players through blockchain NFT... something. Aside