Rabbids arrive in the world of blockchain and NFT.
The video game
The Sandbox
, which presents itself as a metaverse, announced on Tuesday a strategic partnership with Ubisoft.
The French publisher has acquired a large virtual area within this platform, where it will subsequently offer interactive experiences around its brand.
Ubisoft's mascots, Rabbids, will also appear in
The Sandbox
as characters and objects related to this universe.
Players will be able to use these items, which are expected to take the form of NFTs, to build their own games and gaming experiences.
It is unknown at what price these items will be sold.
According to our information, other Ubisoft licenses should later appear on this virtual field.
“
The Sandbox is a new playground for the Rabbids, and an important opportunity for Ubisoft to experiment with the metaverse for its brands
,” said Guillaume Mammi, head of partnerships and new business opportunities at Ubisoft, in a press release.
Land acquired by Adidas or Carrefour
Created by French people and owned by the Hong Kong group Animoca Brands,
The Sandbox
presents itself as an open and decentralized metaverse platform.
As in
Minecraft
, users can create their own levels and play those of others.
As in
Animal Crossing
, players can design their own objects through a creation tool.
But these objects become NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which can therefore be marketed and resold.
Another difference with traditional video games:
The Sandbox
has put the map of its virtual world on sale.
It is divided into more than 150,000 plots ("
Land
", in the language of the game), which are purchasable again in the form of NFT.
The owners of these plots can exploit and resell them as they see fit.
Before Ubisoft, Adidas, Snoop Dog and even Carrefour bought land.
If the French food distributor acquired 9 plots, Ubisoft would have 576, according to our information.
Read alsoWhy Carrefour bought virtual land in the metaverse
Ubisoft's strategy criticized by players
This partnership seems to be the logical continuation of Ubisoft's entry into the capital of Animoca Brands.
The publisher participated in October in raising 65 million dollars alongside funds such as Liberty City Ventures and Sequoia China.
Animoca Brands only publishes blockchain-based video games, where players can earn, buy and resell NFTs.
This is also Ubisoft's second foray into the world of blockchain.
At the beginning of December, the video game publisher distributed its very first NFTs for its online game
Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
.
Read alsoWith Quartz, Ubisoft is the first major video game player to launch into NFTs
This test aroused strong rejection and violent criticism on social networks.
Many video game players are not convinced by the usefulness of NFTs.
In addition to the controversies over the speculative aspect of crypto-assets and their environmental impact, NFTs are seen as a new way to make video game consumers spend even more money.
“
We hope that players will eventually understand the value we want to offer them
,” reacted Nicolas Pouard, director of the Blockchain Initiative at Ubisoft's Innovations Laboratory to the Finder site.
“
The idea is to give players the option of reselling their virtual items once they no longer need them.
It is positive for them.
But they haven't figured it out yet.
Remarks which, again, were poorly received.
