Ubisoft. Might & Magic. True, two names still conjure visions of epic adventure for most of us. They are symbols of strategic brilliance and a million absorbed hours in imaginary spheres. Although, in recent months, the buzz around Web3 has perhaps sullied these monikers. All of this has left long-time, loyal fans scratching their heads, feeling betrayed and abandoned. Their newest collaborative enterprise, Might & Magic Fates, does its best to follow that path of good intentions. Sadly, it leads players in the end to a place they most certainly do not want to go.
Eroding Trust One NFT At A Time
Let's be blunt. Additionally, Ubisoft shoves NFTs into their games in an effort to connect them to real-world value. Instead they’re more interested in squeezing every last drop of profit from their intellectual properties, regardless of what it does to player goodwill. It's like that uncle who keeps trying to sell you on his "revolutionary" cryptocurrency scheme at Thanksgiving dinner – you love him, but you really wish he'd just pass the gravy.
The issue here goes beyond the fact that NFTs haven’t exactly taken off. It’s not that they’re a new genre, or anything so trivial. It’s that they embody a deep change in the developer/player dynamic. Instead, Ubisoft should focus on creating great interactive experiences. Instead, they’re going the other direction and making the artificial rarity, the breed-em-all mechanic, and the speculative markets in their games.
Think about it. You spend your hard-earned money on a game, invest your time and energy into mastering its mechanics, and build a collection of in-game items that reflect your progress and achievements. Yet with NFTs, these same items quickly turn into commodities, driven entirely by supply and demand imperatives. One day your most prized possession might just become worthless. That would only take place by way of a major market change or, more likely, if Ubisoft decides to release yet another, “rarer” NFT. All at once, the game seems less like a delightful romp and more like a chaotic crypto market roguelike.
And what do you do when the game, as such products often do, eventually shuts down? Suddenly, your NFTs — those digital baubles that you spent actual dollars to acquire — have the potential to take a nosedive in value. This underscores the impermanence of digital ownership in an increasingly corporate-controlled world. It would be equivalent to the company going bust and your star being lost.
This constant, determined push for NFTs is burying Ubisoft’s reputation. Yet, in doing so, they risk alienating their core audience, the very people who have supported them for decades. Does Ubisoft really imagine that a shiny NFT is going to fill the void where the trust and loyalty of millions of gamers used to be?
Exploitation Inevitable In Digital Wild West?
The Wild West. We know, because that’s often how the world of Web3 and NFTs feels. Untamed, unregulated, and ripe for exploitation. Might & Magic Fates, with its promise of tradable NFT cards, is yet another stagecoach rolling into town.
To make things worse, the NFT space is absolutely filled with scams, rug pulls and other predatory behavior. Thousands of projects have pulled on heartstrings and promised amazing returns, only to vanish without a warning. This ultimately leaves investors holding the bag with nonproductive digital tokens.
Ubisoft, for their part, promise us that the “Web3 layer” in Might & Magic Fates is completely optional. As discussed above, NFTs create a unique opportunity for exploitation. Now imagine a world where nefarious actors manipulate the market to benefit themselves. They artificially raise the prices of particular cards and then dump them on unsuspecting customers. Phishing scams have become a frequent occurrence for players who are new to the NFT world. These internet swindles deceive targets into relinquishing their lucrative electronic possessions.
And the potential for these scams is beyond that imaginary menace. It’d be naive to think that Ubisoft could eliminate them all. Even if they put up some of these safeguards, the nature of NFTs as they exist now means that they can be used to exploit youth. It's like building a house on quicksand – no matter how strong the foundation, it's only a matter of time before it sinks.
Are we honestly going to sit by and let one of the biggest companies, like Ubisoft, endanger its players? The harmful effects of gaming This involves subjecting newer gamers to possible harms. The industry needs to think long and hard about the ethical implications of NFTs before diving headfirst into this digital swamp.
Innovation Suffocated By NFT Focus
Here's the real kicker. But as all of Ubisoft’s executives salivate at the prospect of chasing the NFT dream, what’s it not doing? Where is the innovation? Where are the innovative new game concepts? Where are the moving stories and memorable protagonists that first hooked us on video games?
The answer, sadly, seems to be: they're taking a backseat. All the resources and attention is moving away from traditional triple-A game development. Now they are turning their attention to building and sustaining NFT ecosystems. It’s akin to a chef obsessing over how their food looks on the plate while forgetting to make sure it tastes good.
Think about the Might & Magic franchise. It’s a show with a complex past, and the highest worship of a longtime following. And a great big comeback it deserves, one that takes strategy gaming to new heights and provides players with an unforgettable, living breathing world. Instead, we’re receiving a trading card game where these NFTs have clearly been added as an afterthought.
This isn't to say that NFTs are inherently evil or that there's no place for them in gaming. When a major publisher like Ubisoft makes NFTs its top priority, they trump gameplay and artistic integrity. This sends a deeply perilous message to the gaming community. That means short-term profits are prioritized above long-term quality. It suggests that game creators view gamers as little more than wallets to fleece.
The industry is at a crossroads. Otherwise we can go further down this road of NFT mania, harming industry innovation and player goodwill along the way. Or we can demand better. We can tell Ubisoft, and other publishers, that we want games that are fun, engaging, and respectful of our time and money. We can vote with our wallets and choose to play games made by developers who prioritize good gameplay instead of gimmicks.
It’s all in our hands, the future of gaming. Let’s ensure that it’s a future we are all proud to live in.
