Ubisoft is making the headlines in the blockchain world this week. And the surprising thing is that it’s not something like it’s decided to bring Assassin’s Creed to Ethereum. It’s something that, to be perfectly honest, is already a badly kept secret.

According to any search of the company, you’ll find some reports on it ‘considering’ the application of blockchain in gaming.

For those that are otherwise uninitiated in the blockchain gaming world – this would be like some kind of revelation.

But for those that have seen the likes of Nicolas Pouard around at events like the Blockchain Games Summit in Lyon. You’ll find that the news isn’t exactly ‘new’ or ‘surprising.’

Ubisoft and Blockchain

For some added context, Ubisoft’s interest in blockchain goes further back than just this year. Nicolas Pouard himself, being the head of its dedicated blockchain division for one.

Pouard, whether at conferences or one-on-one, has been highly outspoken about the kind of influence of blockchain.

Along with Ubisoft’s drive to experiment with it.

“We strongly believe that blockchain is a huge thing that will change the gaming industry. We don’t know how but we have the means to explore.”

The CEO himself, Yves Guillemont, best exemplifies the attitude that the company has towards blockchain. As can be attested to in a statement back in May 2019.

“At Ubisoft, we are very excited by blockchain. It’s a disruptive technology that is going to change the video game industry a lot,” he said.

Best and ‘latest’ examples? HashCraft

During Blockchain Gamer Connects San Francisco, Ubisoft took the time to show off just how innovators, supported by the game development giant, have been making use of blockchain.

The most prominent example, of course, was HashCraft.

Both making use of blockchain and Ethereum Smart Contracts to randomly generate unique islands and mint them as immutable maps unique to the player.

Far more than just going off to its own devices, Ubisoft has also hosted hackathons, such as Blockchain Heroes, along with being readily visible during conferences across 2018.

Certainly, hitching its conceptual wagon to Ethereum may be a new approach from a previously agnostic space. What’s more, the company has since been involved with companies like Azarus – the decentralized streaming platform backed by EOS.

In fact, the company was among those selected for Season 3 of Ubisoft’s Entrepreneurs Lab.

So, in summary, to suggest that the gaming giant is only getting into blockchain now is simply untrue. They’ve been a player for some time.