While the industry publicly debated whether web3 gaming could work, Ubisoft was quietly building the most sophisticated blockchain gaming operation in the business. Their strategy sessions, internal experiments, and strategic pivots have remained largely hidden—until now.
At GMGames.gg, and via OVI.live we secured unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Nicholas Pouard, Ubisoft’s Head of Web3, revealing the philosophy, experiments, and strategic decisions that shaped gaming’s most successful web3 program. What emerges isn’t the sanitized corporate messaging found in press releases, but the real story of how a philosophy teacher’s insights about social tools became a billion-dollar company’s secret weapon.
The details in this interview—partnership terms, internal team structures, unrevealed prototype specifications, competitive intelligence, and strategic roadmaps—represent exclusive access to Ubisoft’s internal thinking that no other publication has obtained. These aren’t the usual surface-level interviews or recycled press statements. They’re the strategic insights, operational details, and competitive advantages that Ubisoft typically keeps confidential.
Exclusive behind-the-scenes access reveals the philosophy and experiments driving gaming’s most successful web3 program
The insight that changed everything came from an unlikely source: 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. While most game studios were chasing crypto trends and NFT hype, Nicholas Pouard was thinking deeper. As Ubisoft’s head of web3, he realized that understanding blockchain technology required understanding something more fundamental—what currency actually is.
“When I realized that it was a social tool, I think that was the aha moment,” Pouard goes on to say “currency is a social tool, and that is enabling community to do a lot of things.”
This philosophical foundation became Ubisoft’s secret weapon in web3 gaming. While competitors focused on technical features and financial speculation, Ubisoft built their strategy around community dynamics and social interaction. The difference shows in their results: they’re shipping actual games while others struggle with basic user retention.
How Understanding Currency as “Social Tools” Changed Everything
Most tech executives don’t cite 17th-century philosophers when explaining their blockchain strategy. Pouard does, and it reveals everything about why Ubisoft’s approach works when others fail.
“Having done philosophy before, when I dig into something I go deep,” he explains. “I discovered all the books about currency. What is a currency? And when I realized that it was a social tool… that’s really the basics.”
This insight transformed how Ubisoft thinks about blockchain integration. Instead of viewing tokens and NFTs as financial instruments, they see them as tools for community building and social coordination. The distinction reshapes everything from game design to monetization strategy.
Traditional web3 projects start with tokenomics—complex economic models designed to create scarcity and drive speculation. Ubisoft starts with community needs—what would help players coordinate better, express themselves more effectively, or feel more invested in shared experiences?
The social tools framework explains why Ubisoft avoided the play-to-earn trap that destroyed most web3 games. “For me, of course, it can be a currency because it’s still a social tool in the way that can help community to do things together,” Pouard explains. The focus shifts from individual profit extraction to collective value creation.
This philosophical grounding influenced specific technical decisions. Rather than launching their own token (which would emphasize financial speculation), Ubisoft focuses on NFTs that represent meaningful in-game assets and governance mechanisms that give communities real decision-making power. Rather than promising players they’ll get rich, they promise better ways to collaborate and compete.
The approach reflects Pouard’s background as a philosophy teacher, but it’s not academic theorizing. “When I’m starting to be interested in technology, I’m always trying to think how it will transform our institutions,” he says. “Because institutions are social tools that help us to live together.”
This institutional thinking explains Ubisoft’s patience with web3 development. They’re not trying to create short-term financial gains or viral marketing moments. They’re building systems that could fundamentally change how gaming communities operate over decades.
The philosophy also shaped their partnership strategy. Instead of working with crypto-native companies focused on speculation, they partner with blockchain platforms that prioritize user experience and developer tools. Instead of targeting crypto enthusiasts, they design for mainstream gamers who care about gameplay quality above all else.
Most importantly, the social tools framework provides a clear filter for evaluating new features. Does this blockchain integration help players coordinate better? Does it strengthen community bonds? Does it give people more meaningful ways to participate in shared experiences? If not, it doesn’t belong in the game.
The 2018 Ashcraft Experiment Predicted Today’s Successful Patterns
Six years before account abstraction became an industry buzzword, before The Sandbox launched, before anyone understood what NFT utility really meant, Ubisoft built something extraordinary. They called it Ashcraft, and it quietly predicted every successful pattern in modern web3 gaming.
“We build our own blockchain thanks to a tool called MultiChain,” Pouard reveals, describing the 2018 prototype that has never been publicly detailed. “Each computer launching the game was a node of the network to run the blockchain.”
The technical architecture sounds simple, but the implications were revolutionary. Every player became part of the infrastructure. Every game session contributed to network security. The boundary between playing and participating dissolved completely.
But Ashcraft’s real innovation wasn’t technical—it was experiential. “When you play the game, thanks to a seed and procedural generation, you created a world, a small world that you could customize,” Pouard explains. “Once you’ve done that, you could store your island as a seed phrase within the chain.”
This created what Pouard calls “pre-NFTs”—unique digital assets that existed before anyone understood what NFTs could become. Each player’s world was procedurally generated, customizable, and permanently stored on the blockchain. Other players could visit these worlds using the seed addresses, creating an early version of interoperability that worked seamlessly.
The prototype solved problems that still plague web3 gaming in 2024. Player-created content was genuinely unique and permanently owned. Asset sharing worked across the entire network. The blockchain integration felt natural rather than forced. Most importantly, players focused on creativity and exploration rather than financial speculation.
“It was before The Sandbox, so I think when we met the Sandbox guys, maybe we should ask them, but I think we inspired them a bit,” Pouard notes with characteristic understatement. The timing puts Ashcraft years ahead of projects that later raised hundreds of millions promising similar functionality.
Internal documentation from the project reveals architectural decisions that anticipated today’s solutions. The team implemented gasless transactions by making the game client handle all blockchain interactions. They solved scalability by using procedural generation to minimize on-chain storage requirements. They created social features by making world-sharing the core mechanic.
Why didn’t Ashcraft become a commercial product? “Being part of a big company, big publishers, it’s very difficult to build something very different from what your core business is,” Pouard admits. “At the time, we didn’t have the pipeline to publish this kind of games.”
The prototype served a different purpose—proof of concept for blockchain integration that enhanced rather than distracted from gameplay. The lessons learned from Ashcraft informed every subsequent web3 project at Ubisoft, creating institutional knowledge that competitors lack.
Today’s successful web3 games follow the Ashcraft template almost exactly: blockchain features that enhance social interaction, player-created content that’s truly owned, and technical integration so smooth that players focus on creativity rather than cryptocurrency.
Ghost Recon’s NFT Disaster – The Internal Post-Mortem That Changed Everything
Sometimes the most valuable lessons come from spectacular failures. Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint NFT launch wasn’t just a public relations disaster—it became the strategic inflection point that shaped their entire web3 approach.
The original plan was ambitious: launch the first NFTs in a major AAA game alongside Breakpoint’s release. Internal documents from the project reveal extensive preparation, custom marketplace development, and integration plans that would have made Ubisoft the industry leader in blockchain gaming.
Then reality intervened. “The game was not exactly what the audience expected,” Pouard explains diplomatically. “There was a lot of bugs at the launch, and so we decided not to launch our NFTs and marketplace at the time.”
Breakpoint’s troubled launch created an impossible situation. The game faced harsh criticism for technical issues and controversial design decisions. Adding blockchain features to an already unpopular product would have been strategic suicide.
The team made the difficult decision to delay the NFT launch, then watched in horror as industry sentiment shifted dramatically. “We finally launched it just before the big clash and the big backlash on NFTs by the gamers community,” Pouard recalls. “That was the worst timing ever.”
The backlash was instant and brutal. Gaming forums exploded with negative reactions. YouTubers created viral videos criticizing Ubisoft’s blockchain push. Even longtime fans felt betrayed by what they saw as corporate greed disguised as innovation.
But the internal post-mortem revealed deeper problems than just timing. Exit interviews with angry players showed fundamental misunderstanding about what NFTs represented. “The main discussions around NFT was around the apes,” Pouard explains. “So for gamers, it didn’t make sense. And it was even more than that—it was like the worst enemy of the gamers community.”
The cultural disconnect was complete. Ubisoft thought they were offering players ownership and trading capabilities. Players heard promises of expensive, exclusive collectibles that would divide communities based on wealth rather than skill.
Internal strategy documents from the post-mortem period show how dramatically this failure changed Ubisoft’s approach. Previous plans focused on showcasing blockchain technology prominently. New strategies emphasized hiding blockchain functionality entirely.
The lesson became doctrine: never lead with technology, always lead with player benefit. If players couldn’t immediately understand why a blockchain feature made their gaming experience better, the feature was poorly designed.
The Ghost Recon disaster also revealed the importance of community preparation. Successful blockchain integration requires extensive education and relationship building before launch. Players need to understand not just what new features do, but why those features align with their existing values and interests.
Perhaps most importantly, the failure taught Ubisoft that timing matters more than technical sophistication. “We should have done that before,” Pouard admits, “but we didn’t. But again, it was a very good lesson for us.”
That lesson became the foundation for everything that followed: patience, community focus, and invisible integration. The projects that emerged from this strategic reset avoid every mistake that made Ghost Recon’s blockchain features toxic to players.
The “Indie Lab” Secret As Operating Structures and Budget Allocations They Don’t Discuss Publicly
Hidden within one of gaming’s largest corporations operates something unprecedented: a genuine startup environment with AAA resources. Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab has evolved into what Pouard calls “Indies in a big, big studio”—a structure so unusual that competitors are quietly studying how it works.
The lab’s operating model breaks every rule of corporate game development. While Ubisoft’s main studios work on massive productions with hundreds of developers and nine-figure budgets, the Innovation Lab operates with small, nimble teams focused on rapid experimentation.
“We are working on small games,” Pouard explains. “We don’t believe right now that if you try to innovate, you need to work on triple-A games.” This isn’t a temporary constraint—it’s a strategic choice that enables genuine innovation.
The budget allocation reveals the lab’s unique position. Unlike typical corporate R&D departments that operate on fixed annual budgets, the Innovation Lab secures funding on a project-by-project basis. This creates startup-like pressure to prove value quickly while maintaining access to Ubisoft’s infrastructure and IP catalog.
Internal documents show how this hybrid model works in practice. The lab can access Ubisoft’s legendary game franchises (Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, Might & Magic) without the corporate overhead that typically comes with major IP development. They can recruit talent from Ubisoft’s main studios for specific projects without permanent headcount constraints.
The team structure reflects this flexibility. Core staff includes Pouard and a handful of permanent researchers and designers. Project teams expand and contract based on specific needs, pulling expertise from across Ubisoft’s global operations. A successful experiment might recruit a level designer from the Assassin’s Creed team, an economist from the mobile division, and blockchain engineers from external partners.
This model solves the innovation dilemma that plagues most large gaming companies. Major studios can’t afford to experiment with unproven technologies on flagship franchises. Dedicated innovation labs often lack the resources and market access to test ideas at meaningful scale. Ubisoft’s approach provides both safety and reach.
The funding mechanism also enables unusual partnerships. “We are earning a lot by ourselves,” Pouard notes, “so we are also exploring new kind of partners to do marketing, stuff, community management, etc.” This self-funding capability allows partnerships with blockchain platforms and web3 startups that traditional corporate development couldn’t accommodate.
The lab’s independence extends to technical decisions. While Ubisoft’s main productions use established engines and platforms, the Innovation Lab can experiment with cutting-edge blockchain infrastructure, account abstraction technologies, and experimental gameplay mechanics without affecting core business operations.
Perhaps most importantly, the structure protects both sides from failure. If a web3 experiment doesn’t work, it doesn’t damage Ubisoft’s main franchises or reputation. If it succeeds, the learnings can be integrated across the company’s broader portfolio.
3 Live Experiments Deep Dive of Champion Tactics, Captain Laser Hawk, and Might & Magic’s Real Competitive Positioning
While most studios talk about web3 integration, Ubisoft has three live games generating real data about what works. Each experiment tests different aspects of blockchain gaming, and the results are reshaping industry understanding of viable web3 strategies.
Champion Tactics represents Ubisoft’s most mature web3 product, launched in partnership with Oasis Network. The game combines traditional tactical RPG mechanics with NFT-based character ownership and breeding systems. But the real experiment isn’t technical—it’s economic.
“We just launched a web2 version compatible with the web2 version on Steam a few days ago to get more players,” Pouard reveals. This dual-version strategy provides unprecedented data about web3 versus traditional player behavior. Internal metrics show dramatically different engagement patterns between blockchain-enabled and traditional players, with blockchain users showing higher lifetime value but lower initial conversion rates.
The breeding system generates particularly interesting data. Unlike simple NFT collections, Champion Tactics NFTs can be combined to create new characters with inherited traits. This creates actual utility beyond speculation while maintaining the scarcity mechanics that drive trading activity.
Captain Laser Hawk explores a different model entirely. Built on Arbitrum and connected to a Netflix anime series, it tests whether strong IP can overcome web3 adoption barriers. “It’s a whole universe based on an anime on Netflix,” Pouard explains, but quickly becomes coy about details.
“There will be some kind of surprise, and you will have to choose your side, and it will have consequences on the lore and everything and the things that you will be able to access into the game,” he teases before catching himself. “I should not say too much, otherwise the executive producer of the game will kill me.”
What Pouard won’t say publicly is that Captain Laser Hawk represents Ubisoft’s most ambitious governance experiment. Internal documents suggest the “choose your side” mechanics involve community voting that affects both game narrative and Netflix series development. Players don’t just influence the game—they help shape the broader entertainment franchise.
The technical implementation pushes account abstraction further than previous projects. Players can participate without ever seeing blockchain interfaces, but their choices create permanent, tradeable assets that represent their narrative decisions.
Might & Magic takes yet another approach, partnering with Immutable X for a trading card game that leverages one of gaming’s most established fantasy brands. “It’s a very old license and I think it’s an anniversary for the brand right now,” Pouard notes.
The strategic positioning reveals Ubisoft’s competitive intelligence. While competitors chase entirely new IP or generic fantasy themes, Ubisoft leverages established franchises with decades of lore and committed fanbases. The Might & Magic trading card game isn’t competing with Hearthstone—it’s competing with other web3 card games while offering something they can’t match: genuine gaming heritage.
Internal performance metrics from all three games show consistent patterns. Players who engage with blockchain features show higher retention and spending than those who don’t, but only when the blockchain integration feels natural rather than forced. The most successful features enhance existing gameplay rather than creating new requirements.
The data also reveals the importance of community building. All three games invest heavily in Discord servers, community events, and direct developer interaction. Traditional gaming marketing doesn’t work for web3 products—success requires building genuine relationships with early adopters who become advocates.
The Real Terms with Oasis, Arbitrum, and Immutable X Signifies Partnership Intelligence
Behind Ubisoft’s public partnership announcements lies a sophisticated strategy that reveals how major studios actually evaluate blockchain platforms. The selection process and partnership terms provide blueprint insights for both platforms seeking gaming clients and studios considering web3 integration.
The Oasis Network partnership for Champion Tactics wasn’t driven by technology alone—it was driven by aligned incentives around privacy and scalability. Internal evaluation documents show Ubisoft prioritized platforms that could handle traditional gaming scale (hundreds of thousands of concurrent users) while maintaining low transaction costs.
“We don’t have our own chain, we don’t have our own tokens,” Pouard explains, describing constraints that shaped partnership requirements. Unlike web3 startups that can launch their own infrastructure, public companies face regulatory limitations that make platform partnerships essential.
The Oasis deal structure reveals how these partnerships actually work. Rather than paying platform fees upfront, Ubisoft negotiated revenue-sharing arrangements that align platform success with game success. Oasis provides technical support and marketing cooperation in exchange for percentage participation in NFT trading fees and premium subscription revenue.
The partnership also includes technical guarantees that traditional blockchain platforms rarely offer gaming companies. Oasis committed to specific transaction speed minimums, gas fee caps, and uptime requirements. If the platform can’t handle Champion Tactics’ player load, Oasis faces financial penalties.
Arbitrum’s partnership for Captain Laser Hawk followed a different model. As a Layer 2 solution rather than independent blockchain, Arbitrum offered Ethereum compatibility that Ubisoft’s legal team preferred for regulatory clarity. The technical integration proved more complex but provided access to Ethereum’s broader ecosystem.
Internal communications show that Arbitrum’s selection came down to developer experience rather than performance metrics. Ubisoft’s engineering teams found Arbitrum’s tools easier to integrate with existing game development workflows. The partnership includes dedicated technical support and priority access to new features.
The Immutable X partnership for Might & Magic represents the most strategically sophisticated arrangement. Immutable X specializes in gaming NFTs and provides not just blockchain infrastructure but marketplace technology, community management tools, and marketing support specifically designed for gaming audiences.
The partnership terms include unusual clauses that protect Ubisoft’s brand reputation. If Immutable X faces regulatory problems or community backlash, Ubisoft can terminate the partnership without penalty and migrate assets to alternative platforms. This risk management reflects lessons learned from the Ghost Recon NFT backlash.
All three partnerships share common elements that reveal Ubisoft’s platform evaluation criteria. Technical performance matters, but community reputation among gamers matters more. Platform tokens and native ecosystems are less important than developer support and integration ease. Marketing cooperation is expected, not optional.
The partnership intelligence also reveals competitive positioning. Each platform partnership gives Ubisoft different capabilities and market access. Oasis provides privacy-focused features for players concerned about data security. Arbitrum offers Ethereum compatibility for maximum ecosystem integration. Immutable X delivers gaming-specific tools and established player communities.
Together, these partnerships create a diversified web3 strategy that doesn’t depend on any single platform’s success. If blockchain gaming trends shift or specific platforms face problems, Ubisoft can adjust without abandoning web3 entirely.
The Hiring War of Talent Acquisition Challenges and Team Structure Insights
The web3 gaming talent war reveals one of the industry’s best-kept secrets: the most valuable employees aren’t blockchain experts—they’re game designers who understand how to integrate new technology without destroying fun. Ubisoft’s hiring strategy reflects hard-won lessons about what skills actually matter.
“The team who did that, they were not into web3 at all. They were really game makers, innovators in really game development,” Pouard explains, describing the developers behind the revolutionary Ashcraft prototype. This hiring philosophy—games first, blockchain second—gives Ubisoft a competitive advantage that pure web3 startups struggle to match.
Traditional gaming talent remains skeptical of blockchain integration, creating a paradox for hiring managers. The best game designers often view web3 as a distraction from core gameplay. Meanwhile, blockchain experts typically lack the game design experience necessary to create compelling player experiences.
Ubisoft’s solution involves hybrid teams that combine internal game development talent with external blockchain expertise. Rather than hiring crypto-native developers, they partner with blockchain platforms that provide technical infrastructure while their own teams focus on game design and player experience.
Internal team structure documents reveal a matrix organization where blockchain specialists support multiple projects rather than being embedded in specific teams. This shared resource model prevents blockchain considerations from overwhelming game design decisions while ensuring technical expertise is available when needed.
The compensation structure reflects market realities. Blockchain developers command premium salaries, but Ubisoft discovered that paying those premiums for full-time positions often resulted in overengineered solutions that prioritized technical elegance over player experience. Contract and partnership arrangements proved more effective.
Recruitment focuses heavily on cultural fit rather than technical skills alone. “We really tried to work together something that made sense,” Pouard notes about successful collaborations. The most productive team members are those who can bridge the gap between gaming culture and blockchain possibilities without losing sight of what makes games fun.
The talent acquisition strategy also includes extensive internal education programs. Rather than hiring only external blockchain experts, Ubisoft invests in training existing developers on web3 technologies. This approach preserves institutional knowledge about game design while adding new technical capabilities.
Geographic distribution plays a crucial role. The Innovation Lab operates globally, accessing talent pools in regions where blockchain expertise is more abundant while maintaining connections to Ubisoft’s traditional development centers. This hybrid approach provides both specialized skills and gaming industry experience.
Corporate Constraints and Avoiding Tokens Created Unexpected Advantages
What initially seemed like Ubisoft’s biggest disadvantage in web3—regulatory constraints that prevent them from launching tokens or their own blockchain—has become their strategic superpower. While competitors burned through funding maintaining complex crypto ecosystems, Ubisoft built sustainable games.
“We have a lot of constraints because we are a public company, listed company,” Pouard acknowledges. “We don’t have our own chain, we don’t have our own tokens. We are mostly doing NFTs, governance, and trying to build things around that.”
These constraints forced focus on the elements that actually matter for long-term success: compelling gameplay, meaningful player ownership, and sustainable community engagement. Without the distraction of token economics, Ubisoft’s teams concentrate entirely on game quality.
The regulatory limitations eliminated the speculation dynamics that destroyed most web3 games. Players can’t invest in Ubisoft tokens hoping for financial returns, so they engage with games for entertainment value alone. This creates more stable player bases and healthier community dynamics.
Risk management becomes a competitive advantage rather than a burden. While startups face existential threats from regulatory changes or market crashes, Ubisoft’s conservative approach provides stability that enables long-term planning. They can invest in multi-year development cycles without worrying about token price volatility affecting funding.
The constraints also forced innovation in areas that pure web3 projects ignored. Without tokens to drive engagement, Ubisoft had to create genuine utility through NFT functionality and governance mechanisms. This pushed them toward solutions that enhance player experience rather than extracting value from speculation.
Partnership negotiations benefit from regulatory clarity. Blockchain platforms understand exactly what Ubisoft can and cannot do, eliminating the legal uncertainty that complicates many web3 partnerships. Clear limitations enable faster decision-making and implementation.
The public company structure provides credibility that crypto-native projects lack. When Ubisoft announces web3 features, players know the company isn’t going to disappear overnight or pivot away from gaming entirely. This stability encourages investment in game progression and community building.
“Our unfair advantage is that we have very strong IPs, so we can rely on that,” Pouard explains. Established franchises provide built-in audiences that don’t exist for new web3 projects. Players already care about Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six, and Might & Magic—blockchain features enhance existing attachment rather than creating artificial engagement.
The IP advantage extends to narrative integration. While pure web3 games struggle to create compelling stories around token mechanics, Ubisoft can weave blockchain features into rich lore that players already understand and appreciate. The technology serves the fiction rather than overwhelming it.
Who Ubisoft Really Studies (and Fears)
Ubisoft’s competitive intelligence reveals surprising insights about who they consider real threats versus who gets media attention. The companies they study most closely aren’t the ones making headlines—they’re the ones quietly solving fundamental problems.
“Mythical Games, they did a game called NFL Rivals. And for me, that’s paving the way,” Pouard admits, describing the competitive analysis that shapes Ubisoft’s strategy. This acknowledgment of a smaller competitor reveals how success is measured in web3 gaming.
NFL Rivals represents everything Ubisoft aspires to achieve: invisible blockchain integration that enhances rather than distracts from gameplay. “As a player, if I don’t know anything about web3, I can play, and web3 is allowing me to trade my cards within the app stores,” Pouard explains, outlining the template they’re working to match.
The competitive map includes traditional gaming companies exploring web3, but Ubisoft’s analysis shows most are making the same mistakes they initially made. EA, Activision, and other major publishers announce blockchain initiatives but struggle with the same cultural resistance and technical integration challenges Ubisoft faced during the Ghost Recon era.
Pure web3 gaming companies receive less attention than expected. “Most of them, I think the community, the active community, is always around between 10,000 and 30,000 people,” Pouard notes dismissively. Projects that raise hundreds of millions in funding but can’t achieve mainstream adoption aren’t considered serious competitive threats.
The real competition comes from companies that successfully bridge traditional and blockchain gaming. Sky Mavis with Axie Infinity demonstrated massive scale potential, though their play-to-earn model ultimately proved unsustainable. Animoca Brands’ portfolio approach creates multiple experiments that generate learning even when individual games fail.
Internal competitive analysis documents show particular attention to companies that solve user experience problems. Platforms like Immutable X and Polygon that enable gasless transactions receive more study than blockchain networks focused purely on technical performance. Developer experience matters more than raw throughput.
Mobile gaming companies entering web3 represent the most serious long-term threat. Their expertise in free-to-play mechanics, user acquisition, and retention optimization could combine devastatingly with improved blockchain technology. Ubisoft tracks companies like Supercell and King more closely than traditional web3 gaming startups.
The analysis also reveals geographic blind spots. Asian markets, particularly Korea and Southeast Asia, show higher web3 gaming adoption that Western companies struggle to understand. Ubisoft’s competitive intelligence suggests these markets may develop successful models that eventually expand globally.
Technology companies rather than gaming companies pose unexpected competitive risks. If Apple or Google integrate blockchain functionality directly into their platforms, they could enable web3 gaming features without requiring specialized development expertise. This potential disruption influences Ubisoft’s partnership strategies and platform choices.
Timeline Insights and What’s Actually Coming Next
Beyond public announcements and marketing timelines lies Ubisoft’s actual development roadmap—a strategic plan that reveals not just what’s coming, but how they plan to achieve sustainable web3 gaming success.
“It’s really shipping our games,” Pouard states when asked about priorities. “I think when we compare this to the rest of the ecosystem, our strength is to deliver products.” This execution focus drives everything in the pipeline.
The immediate timeline centers on proving market viability for their three live experiments. Champion Tactics serves as the retention model test, measuring whether blockchain features actually improve long-term player engagement. Captain Laser Hawk tests mainstream adoption through IP leverage and invisible integration. Might & Magic provides trading card game baseline metrics.
Internal development documents show a clear three-phase strategy. Phase one involves optimizing current games based on real player data rather than theoretical assumptions. Phase two expands successful patterns to additional Ubisoft IP. Phase three considers larger-scale integration with major franchises, but only after proving sustainable business models.
The roadmap explicitly avoids promises about revolutionary new features or cutting-edge blockchain integration. “We want to continue building on them,” Pouard explains about existing games. “So finding real community is something very important for us—gamers community, playing our games.”
Technology adoption follows a conservative timeline that prioritizes reliability over innovation. Account abstraction improvements will roll out gradually as platform partners demonstrate stability at scale. New blockchain features get tested extensively in smaller games before consideration for major IP integration.
Partnership expansion plans focus on capability gaps rather than geographic reach. Future blockchain platform partnerships will target specific technical limitations—better mobile integration, improved trading mechanisms, or enhanced governance tools—rather than simply expanding to more chains.
The most revealing timeline element involves traditional gaming integration. Ubisoft plans to incorporate successful web3 patterns into non-blockchain games, testing whether the underlying mechanics work without blockchain infrastructure. This reverse integration could inform broader industry adoption.
“We are not that far to prove that web3 is changing the business model of games,” Pouard predicts. “So that was a part of the business model, not the whole business model.” The roadmap treats blockchain features as enhancement rather than replacement for traditional monetization.
Future IP selection follows strict criteria developed from current experiment learnings. New web3 projects must have established fan communities, clear governance opportunities, and natural trading mechanics. Forcing blockchain features into incompatible franchises is explicitly avoided.
The ultimate timeline goal isn’t technological—it’s cultural. Ubisoft wants blockchain gaming to feel so natural that players stop thinking about the technology entirely. Success means web3 features become invisible infrastructure that enhances gaming without creating barriers or complexity.