French Trade Union Criticizes Ubisoft’s NFT Scheme, Brands It ‘Useless, Costly & Ecologically Mortifying’
The French trade union Solidaires Informatique which also represents the workers at Ubisoft Paris, cracked down hard on the company’s NFT scheme.
Ubisoft recently became the first major publisher in the video games industry to incorporate blockchain and NFT technology. However, the move did not sit well with the gamers who expressed their discontent and dissatisfaction with the move quite vocally.
Despite the vehemently negative feedback from the gamers’ community, Ubisoft plunged ahead with its plunge into the NFT waters. And now Solidaires Informatique, a French trade union that represents quite a few workers from Ubisoft Paris has made their displeasure known about the move, calling the scheme “useless, costly and ecologically mortifying”.
In its statement, that Solidaires Informatique have published on their official Twitter account, the French trade union states that, “Ubisoft has recently entered the blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) market. A decision that has been widely criticized by our players, bringing no improvements or benefits to our games”. Further adding that, “Many of us in the company feel the same way and say that blockchain is harmful, worthless, and without a future”.
However, it is not just the technological side of the NFT’s that comes under the fire in Solidaires Informatiques critique. The union states, “You like dividends, subprimes, financial derivatives, crises, speculation, fast trading, money laundering, etc? This is the assured and unspoken promise of NFT. We are far from the enjoyment of videogames”.
📢 UBISOFT and NFT
Blockchain is a useless, costly, ecologically mortifying tech which doesn’t bring anything to videogames. pic.twitter.com/H3LPS94Q5y
— Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo (@SolInfoJeuVideo) December 14, 2021
Further, Solidaires Informatique states that Ubisoft’s implementation of NFT’s as collectible cosmetics is not a concept that is new. According to the union, the big innovation of the blockchain “is to do the same, but inefficiently”.
While this critique is most definitely vitriolic, it is not entirely unjustified. And not more so, if we were to base this judgement on what we so far know about the NFT scheme that Ubisoft is implementing.
The union further states that the NFT scheme has, even at Ubisoft Paris, been “questioned and denounced internally”. Further stating that the management is still hard at work trying to convince them, trying to sell it to them. The union, however, has outright rejected this premise, entirely.
Despite such strong resistance from the union, it is highly likely that there will be more, rather than less, of such moves, in the near future. While Ubisoft is indeed the first major publisher to embrace the NFT technology, Andrew Wilson, Electronic Arts CEO has recently remarked that it is the “future of our industry”.
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO, on the other hand had remarked that while he is a “big believer” in NFTs, he is not necessarily too inclined towards them, especially, as they are now, in the current scenario. Amongst the other big names in the gaming industry that have already embraced the technology, there is Peter Molyneux whose blockchain powered business SIM game, Legacy, will be releasing in 2022.
The gamers however, are still sceptical, to follow the lead of these industry leaders. And they are clearly making their discontent know about the same. And the gamers’ discontent more than the employees’ discontent would be the lone significant factor that might tip the balance over, convincing these companies to change their course.
Ubisoft Had Recently Launched Their NFT Scheme, Which was Later Delisted From YouTube, After Facing Backlash
https://youtu.be/eSVoJ0WUQfY
This is because while some might make the games and be unhappy, it is an entirely different issue to make those that actually purchase these games unhappy. Because it is these gamers who purchase these games, play them and eventually decide whether the game is a hit or a miss. And displeasing them, so much so, that they turn away from purchasing the games, might not be something that the companies might be willing to do, knowingly.
However, as of now, it seems that Ubisoft is intent upon working on its NFT scheme and trying to make it a success.
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Source: Twitter
