Remember Horse Armor? The first DLC for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was $2.50 and gave players a set of armor for their horse. Fifteen years ago, the idea that a company would charge players $2.50 for a single in-game item was so absurd it became one of the OG gaming memes. However, after all the outrage against Bethesda, here we are, buying the color blue for our Halo armor for $5+ from the company that now owns Bethesda.
Ubisoft’s NFTs are only going to spread
Microtransactions, DLC, season passes, and battle passes have all become the norm in the time since gamers mocked Pete Hines over Horse Armor. Now something new is on the horizon. Ubisoft recently became the first major studio to pull the trigger on gamers with its release of three NFTs in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. These NFTs represent in-game skins that could be obtained by playing Breakpoint for a certain amount of hours and claiming them on the Ubisoft Quartz website. Each skin has a unique serial number, and as an NFT, is a unique item that can be bought and sold through any NFT auction site. Sounds a little dumb but harmless, right?
The insidious nature of NFTs in games comes from two aspects:
- Artificial scarcity
- Royalty fees
In the real world, things that are scarce are typically worth more money. That’s the way economic systems have worked since before written history. You have something I can’t get anywhere else, then you get to set the price to whatever you want. The problem is, those who trade in NFTs want to create that same system in a digital setting. When Ubisoft minted the Breakpoint NFTs, 2,000 assault rifles, 750 pairs of pants, and 250 helmets were up for grabs for players who qualified. But, what sets them apart from the other rifles, pants, and helmets in Breakpoint? Well, nothing really. Other than using blockchain technology to tie ownership to an NFT, there’s no reason these items are any more desirable than the others found in-game.
Even Ubisoft’s conservative implementation of NFTs met with massive backlash. Gamers are tired of being sold games piecemeal, and it’s obvious that this is just one more way to give players less while making more and more money. In fact, gamers are almost as mad about NFTs as they were Horse Armor. But wait, that didn’t stop anyone from buying games 15 years ago, did it? Ubisoft knows this, and that’s why it’s continuing ahead full steam with its plans to integrate NFTs in multiple titles.
Now, imagine how NFTs could be used to their fullest. Instead of just the coolest-looking guns and armor being locked to a battle pass or premium currency, every item could be an NFT, to be bought and sold through “third-party” markets that Ubisoft and other game companies will inevitably make large investments in. Imagine that you get to start a game with basic equipment, and everything else has to be bought or traded for. NFTs will be the new loot box. Studios will have players buying raffle tickets for DLC instead of purchasing it outright.
Let's see how this is building the #metaverse and what amazing empowerment I'm getting in terms of really owning something! pic.twitter.com/Q48gSTXrls
— Robert Anderberg (@bobbydigitales) December 7, 2021
Most importantly, NFTs have the ability to enforce royalties when they’re sold, which means Ubisoft, EA, or whoever will get a little cut of each and every sale. This is the end goal. You can only sell a DLC or battle pass one time per customer for a nominal fee. However, with NFTs, you can print a small run of a desirable digital item, inflate the price through hype, and reap the benefits as whales constantly buy and sell them. Why sell one DLC for $10 when you could sell an NFT for $100 and get a 5% royalty every time it changes hands?
Of course, Ubisoft and other peddlers of NFTs will frame this scheme as “play to earn,” but it’s just the final push toward giving gaming entirely over to the whales. You’ll never earn anything. You don’t have the capital to get the items that would make the big bucks. Ubisoft will have you grinding for hundreds of hours to scrape up a pepperoni pizza’s worth of NFTs.
I’ve seen people say things like, “ubISOfT Is STupID. iT don’T knOW HOw TO Do nFTs riGhT.” Of course, it does. It’s just waiting for you to forget the whole thing is a scam. Wait 15 years, and then come tell me how wrong Ubisoft was after you mortgage your home for a Rick Sanchez skin in Fortnite 3.
