Ubisoft Celebrated Its Employees Hard Work By Giving Them NFTs

You'd think Ubisoft would have learnt something with the number of video game companies announcing and immediately retracting their interest in NFTs. That's not the case though – in fact Ubisoft exec, Nicolas Pouard, claims we just "don't get it". But it's not just our knowledge and opinions that Ubisoft has brushed aside, it has done the same for its employees as well.

As reported by Kotaku, Ubisoft recently held an internal workshop to address employee concerns regarding the company's venture into NFTs. At the same time – as a celebration for the 20th anniversary of the Ghost Recon franchise – the company also started giving out NFTs to employees. While this seems like a sound strategy to convince someone to try out a new candybar, it's doubtful that it will work for something that most of the video game industry and players have been vocaly against.

“With the opening of the Ubisoft Quartz platform in December, we thought of creating an exclusive Digit for you, the ‘Ghost Recon 20th anniversary cap!’” said an announcement to Ubisoft employees, according to Kotaku. “If you want to receive this exclusive Digit, we will inject it into your crypto-wallet on the 9th of March.”

Quartz is the name given to Ubisoft's NFT plan. As part of the original announcement, the company had clarified that it would not use Ethereum due the the high amount of energy required. It would instead leverage Tezos' reportedly energy-efficient and eco-friendly blockchain. However, that promise didn't stand for too long as Ubisoft's NFT partner, Frontier, started selling tokens on OpenSea using Ethereum.

"Part of our role as a key investor is to provide them with counsel and guidance on the most eco-friendly and efficient technology choices", a company representative said in an attempt to distance the company from the sale.

It's unclear if Ubisoft managed to actually address the concerns of its employees. But if management used the same 'they don't get it' approach, it's unlikely. The company's internal social media platform was reportedly filled with questions regarding the move.

“I still don’t really understand the ‘problem’ being solved here,” wrote an employee. “Is it really worth the (extremely) negative publicity this will cause?” Another asked, “How can you look at private property, speculation, artificial scarcity, and egoism, then say ‘yes this is good, I want that, let’s put it in art?’”

~ Via The Gamer