Ubisoft lost 1.5 billion euros last year! The NFT dream has come to nothing, a lesson from Web3 pioneer to struggling for a comeback from the bottom.

French gaming giant Ubisoft announced its 2025-26 fiscal year financial results, reporting a record-breaking loss of nearly €1.5 billion, with 7 games cancelled and 6 delayed. Looking back at Ubisoft's high-profile entry into the NFT space with the launch of the Quartz platform in 2021, its eventual quiet exit serves as a reminder that this Web3 journey not only failed to save revenue but, due to intense community backlash and dismal sales, became a catalyst for accelerating the brand's crisis. (Previous coverage: Ignoring "strong backlash" from players, Ubisoft announced its NFT plan remains unchanged, but sales were dismal at only $400!) (Background: Losing stock value over NFTs! Ubisoft splits "Assassin's Creed" into three IP-based subsidiaries, allowing Tencent to invest $1.25 billion) French gaming giant Ubisoft announced its 2025-26 fiscal year financial results on Wednesday. Impacted by large-scale organizational restructuring, the annual loss reached nearly €1.5 billion (approximately NT$52 billion), setting a new company record. This transformation plan led the company to cancel 7 games in development and postpone the release of 6 others. To streamline its structure, Ubisoft plans to consolidate half of its development studios into five "creative houses," with the remaining departments transitioning to support functions. Reflecting on Ubisoft's predicament, beyond the weakness in its traditional gaming business, its high-profile NFT strategy launched in 2021 now looks more like an expensive gamble. At the time, Ubisoft chose the Tezos blockchain to launch the Quartz platform, featuring "Digits" NFT digital collectibles, becoming the first major publisher to integrate NFTs into a AAA title. However, the subsequent chain reaction became a turning point for the company's brand image. In December 2021, Ubisoft introduced Digits NFTs in "Ghost Recon Breakpoint"—including three collectibles: a wolf mask, a wolf tactical truck, and a wolf brown weapon skin. However, after the Quartz trailer was uploaded to YouTube, it was flooded with over 1.3 million dislikes, with a like/dislike ratio of only about 1:9, setting the record for the most disliked video on Ubisoft's channel. The player community's anger was swift and fierce. Beyond criticizing Ubisoft for failing to improve game quality and only trying to monetize fans through NFTs, some pointed out that its "energy-efficient" claims (Tezos being a PoS chain) could not mask the environmental controversies of the broader blockchain industry. Internal backlash also emerged at Ubisoft, with the French gaming union STJV issuing a rare statement, bluntly calling the NFT strategy a "very bad idea." If the community's anger was a matter of reputation, the actual sales data directly challenged the commercial viability. According to gaming media VGC, two days after Quartz went live, the trading volume of Digits on the secondary market was only 15 transactions; in the first week, the total transaction volume was only about $400, which was negligible compared to the development costs Ubisoft invested. Even more embarrassing, "Ghost Recon Breakpoint," which served as the carrier, was already poorly received upon its 2019 release due to bugs and a mandatory online connection mechanism. In September 2022, Ubisoft announced it would discontinue the game—the core showcase for Quartz was effectively wiped out, leaving the NFT ecosystem to wither in the absurd situation of having "no game to play." It is not that Ubisoft did not try to recover. In 2023, they announced the blockchain strategy game "Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles" and partnered with the NFT gaming platform Immutable, but these subsequent plans all fizzled out. In early 2024, Ubisoft officially closed its "Blockchain Hub" and laid off the relevant team, effectively declaring a full exit from its NFT strategy. Ironically, Ubisoft established a blockchain research group as early as 2017, positioning itself earlier in Web3 than most major gaming companies. From the tens of millions of euros invested by Animoca Brands and the purchase of virtual land in The Sandbox, to the development and operation of the Quartz platform, it is estimated that the total investment related to NFTs reached €70 million to €100 million, while direct revenue was likely less than €1 million. While this loss represents only a small fraction of the €1.5 billion annual deficit, the true damage of the NFT failure lies in the dual blow to brand credibility and investor confidence. After the launch of Quartz at the end of 2021, Ubisoft's stock price fell 5% within a week; in March 2022, American shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit, accusing management of making misleading statements about the prospects of the NFT business. Since then, the stock price has fallen from €100 in