Despite YouTubes Removal of the dislike button, the update didn’t come quickly enough to prevent the public from unleashing a flurry of dislikes on Ubisoft’s trailer for their new NFT initiative. A Whopping 24K dislikes compared to a mere 1K likes. To be fair, Ubisoft is not the most beloved gaming company and has a history of trying to suck every last penny it can from the fans of their games. But is this where the hate is coming from?
First it is noted by Kotaku that “Quartz’s fine print [reveals] much of the work is being [handled] off to the blockchain Ubisoft has no power to “reverse or cancel transactions”, has “no liability” for claims or damages, are aware that the blockchain “may be subject to specific weaknesses, which make them possibly targets for specific cybersecurity threats” and has “no liability in the risks implied by the use of this new technology”.”
What Ubisoft fails to realize and what many NFT creators tend to forget is that just slapping the word “NFT” in front of a famous company or name doesn’t necessarily mean the NFT is “Non-fungible”. How this company can have an NFT that is NOT on the blockchain tells you all you need to know. Imagine someone telling you they have a pair of shoes you wear on your head…. Wait what??? I don’t know what that is… but I don’t think you can call them shoes.
In order for a non-fungible token to be a non-fungible token it must be on the blockchain. Just like shoes in order to be called “shoes” must be worn on your feet. What Ubisoft was/is thinking is up for debate, but judging by the unfavorable response it seems like the prevailing opinion is that this just another money grab from a company that has a history of microtransactions trying to get every last dime it can out of its fanbase.