What could have gone wrong. Last week, Ubisoft announced the launch of Quartz : a platform intended to distribute in-game items in the form of NFT, which everyone is then free to trade and resell on market places. The distribution began last Friday, and some items are already offered at exorbitant prices.
Since Friday, players of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can convert part of their game time to obtain "Digits" - in-game items such as pants, a helmet or a rifle, in the form of NFTs. Distributed in limited quantities, these NFTs, whose ownership history is recorded in the blockchain, are already offered in large numbers on the Objkt and Rarible platforms.
Between $450 and $450 for a virtual rifle
At the time of writing, almost all of the 2000 M4A1 rifles that have been distributed by Ubisoft for use in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and, later, that could be declined in others can be found on the marketplace. publisher's titles.
These NFTs are offered for sale at prices between 100 and 100 tezos — the cryptocurrency that Quartz is backed by. At the current price, you can therefore buy a certificate of ownership for a pixel gun for between $000 (€447) and $394 (€447).
It was obvious: the current craze aroused by NFTs, combined with the arrival of a player as massive as Ubisoft in the loop was going to make some people grow wings who hope to generate a substantial profit from all this. But, for now, the fish still seem reluctant to take the bait.
Speculation is rife
Today, the highest bid that has been placed on Objekt concerns the rifle numbered 745. Someone is offering to acquire it for 14 tezos, or around 55€. The lowest bid, for the gun numbered 1337, is 0.1 tezos (€0,39).
Suffice to say that it does not seem to be jostling at the gate. But it should be noted that the highest bid has already doubled since that night. In its article published late yesterday, Axios noted a maximum offer of $21.
At Rarible, where there are still some 330 items for sale, we note that some have found takers for amounts between 15 and 40 tezos (i.e. €59 and €159). Rifle #634, purchased last night for this amount, has already been put up for sale by its owner for 104 tezos (€412).
What is worrying is that in its declaration of intent, Ubisoft assured that it had put in place safeguards to prevent these digital objects from taking on an astronomical value on the market places. The publisher does not want to make Quartz an investment horizon for crypto-enthusiasts, but seeks – in its words – to push the video game industry in a new direction.
The problem, apart from the fact that the situation already raises big questions internally, is that it has already been emulated. Earlier this week, controversial Peter Molyneux announced that his next title, Legacy, would be blockchain-based. An ad that was enough to sell nearly $15 million worth of NFTs related to a game that doesn't yet exist.
Yesterday, GSC World also announced that the long-awaited STALKER 2, due next April on PC and Xbox Series X, will allow three buyers of its future NFTs to see themselves modeled in game.
