Ubisoft, makers of several hit gaming franchises including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, has joined the XPLA blockchain as a node validator. 

The French gaming giant has long dabbled in web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrency services alongside its gaming verticals. This latest move , made through its Strategic Innovation Lab, sets the stage for Ubisoft to contribute to the XPLA network beyond principal validation duties.

According to a press release from XPLA, Ubiisoft will “actively participate in governance proposal decisions” as part of the partnership.

Blockchain

XPLA is a Tendermint-based, layer-1, open-source blockchain developed to foster the transition from web2 to web3 gaming. Its mainnet was launched in August of 2022 with the stated core goal of empowering players in a “Play to Own” gaming paradigm.

Some of the most popular IPs with games on the XPLA blockchain include “The Walking Dead: All-Stars,” and “Summoners War: Chronicles.”

Per a blog post from XPLA, its latest partnership is a growth marker for the network:

“The addition of Ubisoft, a global gaming company, to the XPLA family is just the beginning! We eagerly anticipate more validators joining our ecosystem, enhancing the security and stability of our network.”

Gaming

Ubisoft, based in Rennes, France, is among the world’s largest gaming companies. Its games have won myriad awards and sold a combined total of somewhere around 800 million titles. With a market capitalization of $2.75 billion as of the time of this article’s publication, it’s the second largest in Europe behind only Poland’s CD Projekt Red ($2.99 billion).

The company was among the earliest gaming firms to invest in web3 and blockchain technology. Back in 2021, it published a manifesto laying out its plans in the blockchain and web3 spaces with heavy emphasis on player agency and ownership.

As Cointelegraph reported in October of 2021, Ubisoft is also a major investor in Animoca Brands , a Hong-Kong based blockchain games developer.

Blockchain gaming continues to rise in popularity as the web3 space begins to fill out. While it still hasn’t reached its early promises of decentralizing gaming assets at scale and revolutionizing the role of NFTs in the public perception, the steady entrance of major gaming outfits such as Ubisoft and Square-Enix bodes well for the sector.

Related: Square Enix will modify organizational structure to support blockchain, Web3, AI in 2024