Ubisoft announced 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 own 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 personalise their experience and complete their missions with style.
- Control: Each Digit comes with a certificate of ownership stored on blockchain, a decentralised, 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 decentralised 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. 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,” said Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab VP Nicolas Pouard.
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. 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 prioritise innovation without compromising sustainability,” says Ubisoft Blockchain technical director Didier Genevois.
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 five 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 9 December 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 9 December, 12 December, and 15 December 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.