Ubisoft introduces Quartz as a way to use NFTs in games, starting with Ghost Recon Breakpoint

The Ubisoft Quartz platform, developed by Ubisoft Strategic Innovation lab, was announced today as a “place where you will be able to acquire Digits, the first Ubisoft NFTs (non-fungible tokens), playable in a HD game and relying on an energy-efficient technology,” according to Ubisoft’s official site.

Digits are initially coming to Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint as unique, collectible, in-world cosmetics that players will be able to buy and sell. Ubisoft will release Digits in limited editions and each item will receive a unique serial number for other players to see. NFT holders will be able to sell their tokens on the Ubisoft Quartz platform and buy others.

Starting on Dec. 9 at 12pm CT, a limited number of players of the PC version of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint will be able to redeem the first free Digit, an assault rifle. This will be followed by a helmet on Dec. 12 and then military pants on Dec. 15.

There are some requirements to prevent crypto-asset speculators from acquiring those NFTs, though. Players will need to play the game on the Ubisoft Connect PC platform, reach a certain level in the game, activate the two-factor authentication for Ubisoft Connect, be at least 18 years old, and live in an eligible territory. For now, the eligible territories are the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Brazil.

Ubisoft is aware of the criticism of the high energy consumption around the crypto-asset industry and said that “thanks to the Tezos blockchain, Ubisoft Quartz’ energy consumption is equal to that of a standard database.” Tezos is an open-source blockchain platform for assets and applications, and according to Ubisoft, “one transaction on Tezos consumes as much energy as 30 seconds of video streaming while a transaction on Bitcoin consumes the equivalent of one year of video streaming.”