Since a lot more research has been published on blockchain, it has certainly caught the interest of some big technology companies out there. None more so than game developers. Between the benefits it can potentially serve to their players and also the business, they have people dedicated to researching and experimenting with blockchain and how its uses can be integrated into their existing systems, software, and platforms. One game maker is looking to expand the way that cryptocurrency and blockchain can enhance its game offerings and, frankly, its wallet and that is France’s Ubisoft.
It also helps that they know there is an audience waiting for them. Over the last few years, blockchain tech has been steadily integrating itself into various gaming platforms, with the most popular existing in the iGaming market – AKA, the world of online casinos. In 2024, casinos such as cryptocasino.ltd are arguably growing just as popular as regular online casinos, with the ability to play with numerous tokens, including BTC, ETH, SOL, and more, offering convenience and security to players ready to adopt these new currencies into their e-wallets. From the Solana casino to one fuelled by Bitcoin, the industry is quickly evolving to keep up with this new demand for decentralized currencies. With gamers flocking to these casinos – as well as plenty of other games available on Ethereum – game developers have realized that Web3 development is more of a necessity than a possibility. One such organization is Ubisoft. As we all know, Ubisoft is a popular French game developer and is best known for hit titles such as the Far Cry franchise, Assassin’s Creed, the Tom Clancy franchise, and many more. But their next adventure is looking a little different.
Why are they Interested in Blockchain?
As mentioned previously, Ubisoft is not the only game developer looking into the benefits of blockchain; it is going to be the one under the spotlight today. From the outset, the company has probably been the most vocal about its enthusiasm for blockchain tech – so much so that they have organized multiple ‘hackathons’ known as blockchain heroes.
So what is their justification for researching blockchain? Well, they believe that it will heavily enhance the overall experience for the player, making it more immersive, fair, and transparent. To demonstrate this, they have even created a prototype game called Hashcraft. This is a Minecraft-themed game with an added twist whereby the players earn tokens as rewards for creating challenges for other players. And it is fair to say they learned a few things from it.
The Benefits
First, they observed that players feel more in control when they, along with other players, create a community to run the economy – rather than the economy being controlled by one central organisation. It also gives them a sense of power or control when they have the ability to sell content that they themselves have created.
Another observation was that, in the game, players were using digital identities—pseudonyms, almost—rather than their real identities or going fully anonymous. This served the benefit of keeping players safe and secure, but at the same time removing complete anonymity, which can sometimes drive some players to be toxic within games. In other words, every player could be held accountable, but they could also be safe at the same time.
The Latest Project
The latest development in Ubisoft’s journey with blockchain came just last month, in March 2024, when it signed itself up to be a validator for another crypto-gaming network. This is just the latest in quite an impressive list of projects that it is supporting within the crypto space. This latest network is called XPLA, which was founded by another gaming firm called Com2us. Ubisoft’s role as a validator will be to assure the integrity of the blockchain and to assist with validating data in order to improve the blockchain platform overall.
In Summary
The crypto gaming arena is certainly exciting, and there are a range of possibilities. Ubisoft has the potential to transform itself into a true blockchain game developer. Hopefully, this article has also given you a bit of background as to why they are getting so heavily invested and involved within the crypto space and what uses benefits, and applications they are hoping to see it serve in the future. And who knows? Maybe we’ll see an entirely blockchain-orientated Assassin’s Creed game in a few years. We’ll certainly be the first to play it!
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