Ubisoft has indicated its plans to halt active development on Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint means it won’t be releasing more NFTs for the shooter.
Yesterday, the French publisher revealed Breakpoint won’t be receiving additional updates or future content, but neglected to mention how that would affect the company’s NFT plans.
For context, Breakpoint served as a testing ground for Ubisoft’s controversial Quartz platform, with the company selling NFTs — branded as “Digits” — as collectables and in-game cosmetics ranging from vehicles and weapons to pieces of equipment.
In a statement posted on the Ubisoft Quartz website (via GamesIndusty.biz), Ubisoft has suggested it won’t be creating additional Breakpoint NFTs and thanked players for backing the scheme.
“You own a piece of the game and have left your mark in its history. Stay tuned for more updates with features to the platform and future drops coming with other games,” reads the statement, implying there are plans to integrate Digits into other titles.
At this point, it’s unclear how many people bought into the NFT project. Last year, some reports suggested that Digits weren’t exactly flying off shelves, while Kotaku also found that Quartz had managed to rub some Ubisoft employees the wrong way.
Addressing the backlash to Quartz, one Ubisoft exec suggested that players simply “don’t get it,” telling Australian outlet Finder that “gamers really believe [NFTs are] first destroying the planet, and second just a tool for speculation.”
Update: 4/7: An Ubisoft spokesperson provided the following statement in response to our queries about the future of Quartz.
“At Ubisoft, we continuously learn by trying new things and encourage this attitude in our teams. Being first to take advantage of emerging trends and technology is more than core to Ubisoft’s strategy, it is part of our DNA. Ubisoft Quartz reflects this ambition and represents an incredible opportunity to learn with our community about what decentralization can bring to gaming. 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.”
So are Ubisoft’s NFT efforts dead? Definitely not.