Ubisoft, the maker of several popular gaming franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, has joined the XPLA blockchain as a node validator.
In addition to its gaming divisions, the French gaming behemoth has long dabbled in Web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrency services. This latest effort, implemented through its Strategic Innovation Lab, paved the way for Ubisoft to contribute to the XPLA network beyond its primary validation obligations.
According to a press release from XPLA, Ubisoft will “actively participate in governance proposal decisions” as part of the partnership.
Blockchain
XPLA is a Tendermint-based, layer-1 open-source blockchain designed to facilitate the transition from Web2 to Web3 gaming. Its mainnet was launched in August 2022, with the claimed primary purpose of empowering gamers in a “play to own” gaming model.
Some of the most popular intellectual properties with games on the XPLA blockchain are The Walking Dead: All-Stars and Summoners War: Chronicles.
According to a blog post by XPLA, this recent cooperation is a growth benchmark for the network:
“The addition of Ubisoft, a global game brand, to the XPLA family is only the start! We look forward to adding more validators to our ecosystem, which will improve the security and stability of our network.”
Gaming
Ubisoft, based in Rennes, France, is one of the world’s major gaming businesses. Its games have received numerous awards and sold a total of about 800 million units. With a market valuation of $2.75 billion at the time of writing, it is Europe’s second-largest, trailing only Poland’s CD Projekt Red ($2.99 billion).
The company was one of the first gaming firms to invest in Web3 and blockchain technologies. In 2021, it released a manifesto outlining its ambitions in the blockchain and Web3 spaces, with a focus on player agency and ownership.
Blockchain gaming is gaining popularity as the Web3 space fills out. While it has yet to deliver on its early promises of decentralizing gaming assets at scale and altering public perception of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), the constant influx of large gaming companies such as Ubisoft and Square-Enix speaks well for the industry.
