The Future of Gaming or a Confusing Mess?
NFTs have been all over the news lately for all sorts of reasons. They’re confusing and controversial, and Ubisoft just announced they are implementing them into their games.
Ubisoft is launching their new platform called Ubisoft Quartz for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint on Ubisoft Connect for PC. The platform is going to host Ubisoft’s new NFTs referred to as digits. In-game weapons, equipment and vehicles will make up the digits players can collect. Every digit is completely unique and functions identically to traditional NFTs.
For anyone who’s confused, don’t worry, this is a very confusing concept. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. Non-fungible refers to an item that is completely unique and has no set value. A really famous painting like The Mona Lisa is a good example. I can replace a $10 bill with two $5 bills because they are of equal value. The Mona Lisa can be purchased but cannot be replaced because it has no set value, so The Mona Lisa is non-fungible.
Token refers to something that can be exchanged for something else (in this case, something online) like a coupon. So a Non-Fungible Token is a digital thing (screenshot, digital art piece etc.) that is completely unique and can be sold for a monetary value. NFTs are relatively new, and this is the first time a AAA gaming company has attempted to utilize them in their games. If you’re still confused, check out this video.
Ubisoft is using energy-efficient blockchain servers to host their NFTs. A common criticism of NFTs is how much energy is required to run the blockchains that contain them. Ubisoft is running their NFTs through Tezos, a blockchain network that uses a more environmentally friendly method to run their servers.
Ubisoft Quartz’s beta will be available to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint players on December 9th. Only time will tell if this new system is the future of gaming or a fad destined to fade away.