[GameSpot] - Ubisoft's First NFTs Are Like Steam's Marketplace On The Blockchain

[343iBot]

After alluding to it earlier this year, Ubisoft has announced its first project within the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) ecosystem, titled Ubisoft Quartz.

Quartz will wrap up in-game cosmetics into their own NFT's, each of which will have a unique serial number and history of owners. These items, called Digits, can then be freely traded between players for agreed-upon prices, with a natural economy forming around these transactions and the scarcity of items. If this sounds familiar, it should, as it's essentially what Valve has been doing with the Steam Marketplace and games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, and more for years.

The program, which is still in beta, is only currently supported by Ghost Recon: Breakpoint on PC, and only available in certain regions despite using a decentralized called Tezos. The blockchain makes use of proof-of-stake as opposed to the energy-hungry proof-of-work blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, leading Ubisoft to call its venture "energy-efficient".

This is the first step in what Ubisoft says will be a four-year venture into blockchain technology and the company's pursuit of its own metaverse, according to Quartz's press release. No other games have been announced with support for these Digits, but given Ubisoft's substantially large library, it's perhaps only a matter of time before that changes.

Ubisoft aren't the only publisher looking at blockchain technologies and NFTs in particular, with EA and Grand Theft Auto owner Take-Two also bullish on the venture.

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