French video game company, Ubisoft, on Tuesday announced the launch of Ubisoft Quartz, a new platform for players to acquire Digits, the first NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) playable in an AAA game and running on energy-efficient technology.
Launching in beta with Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Ubisoft Connect for Windows PC, Digits will be released as part of limited Editions, each composed of a fixed number of cosmetic items.
Digits are a new way to experience cosmetic items, combining the fun of playing with AAA
quality assets and the thrill of owning NFTs that represent unique, collectible pieces of Ubisoft
game worlds. Digits are collectible in-game vehicles, weapons, and pieces of equipment that
offer players unprecedented ways to connect with and enjoy more value from the games they
love:
• Uniqueness: Each Digit is a unique collectible that features its serial number for
others to see in-game, also keeping track of its current and previous owners for years
to come, making players an integral part of the game’s history.
• Playability: Digits are high-quality in-game collectibles with active utility value. As
playable cosmetic items, Digits provide players the ability to personalize their
experience and complete their missions with style.
• Control: Each Digit comes with a certificate of ownership stored on blockchain, a
decentralized, community-driven technology independent from Ubisoft, which grants
players more control than ever. With Digits, items are no longer bound to a player’s
game inventory since they can be put on sale for other eligible players to acquire on
third-party platforms outside of the Ubisoft ecosystem.
This large-scale experiment is the next step in Ubisoft’s four-year exploration of blockchain
technology through in-house research and development and close collaboration with
renowned specialists within the startup ecosystem.
“Our long-term efforts led us to understand how blockchain’s decentralized approach could genuinely make players stakeholders of our games, in a way that is also sustainable for our industry, placing back into their hands the value they generate through the time they spend, the items they buy or the content they create online,” said Nicolas Pouard, VP of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab. “Ubisoft Quartz is the first building block in our ambitious vision for
developing a true metaverse. And it can’t come to life without overcoming blockchain’s early-form limitations for gaming, including scalability and energy consumption.”
To operate the first energy-efficient NFTs playable in a AAA game, Ubisoft Quartz leverages
Tezos, a blockchain running on a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, using exceedingly less
energy to operate than Proof-of-Work blockchains such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
“Energy-efficiency is a key requirement to propel blockchain technology into a future where it
can be widely used by millions of players. We chose Tezos because of its original Proof-of-
Stake network and its leadership on clean NFTs,” says Didier Genevois, Blockchain Technical
Director at Ubisoft. “One transaction on their network uses the same amount of energy as
streaming 30 seconds of video, while the previous generation of blockchain networks can
consume the same energy required for one year of non-stop streaming. This low carbon
footprint means that both our developers and our players can prioritize innovation without
compromising sustainability.”
To ensure that players can use Digits to the full extent of their utility, Ubisoft Quartz will only be
available to players that meet the following eligibility criteria:
• Play Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint on Ubisoft Connect for Windows PC
• Reach at least the XP Level 5 in the game
• Be at least 18 years old
In addition, the number of Digits of a single Edition that a player can own at any time is limited
to one.
Ubisoft Quartz will be available in beta starting December 9 at 6 PM UTC in the USA, Canada,
Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Australia, and Brazil. The experiment will kick off with
three drops of free Digits on December 9, 12, and 15, to reward the early adopters among
players. Digits can be claimed on the Ubisoft Quartz platform and played within Ghost Recon
Breakpoint. Other drops are planned for early 2022, and more details will be shared at a later
date.
