UpOnly | Research #37 — FIFA debuts four Web3 games ahead of World Cup
Despite the rollercoaster of the crypto bear market, two things have remained constant — large-scale, billion-dollar, institutional investment in GameFi and a mass migration of traditional gaming organizations into blockchain gaming. The reason for this is apparent: The value and vision that many can see in the industry, replacing in-game rewards with a native cryptocurrency, facilitating true digital ownership through NFTs, and allowing player agency through in-game democracy are all features of GameFi that would provide huge value to the gaming community.
In this edition of UpOnly | Research, we document the entry of two big players into the GameFi market. The first is long-standing traditional gaming retailer GameStop, who have begun selling GameFi NFTs on their NFT store. The second is the association football regulatory body, FIFA, which debuted four Web3 games ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
GameStop enters GameFi through Immutable partnership
Video game retailer GameStop announced via Twitter that it is now trading NFTs minted from game-centric layer-2 protocol Immutable X. GameStop began selling tokenized, tradable items such as cards, in-game upgrades, and digital land plots in October of this year.
Gamestop launched GameStop NFT in July with a limited selection of digital artwork and collectibles. However, once the partnership with industry-leading GameFi developer Immutable X was announced back in February, it became clear what direction GameStop was taking with their new marketplace.
Immutable received a $2.5 billion valuation after a $200 million funding round in March, where industry giants Tencent and Animoca Brands invested heavily in the blockchain. Then in June, GameStop got involved in a $500 million fund designed to promote and grow NFTs and game creators on the Immutable X blockchain.
Immutable X facilitates free NFT minting, promoting the ethos of CEO Robbie Ferguson, who fully believes that NFTs will put the ownership of in-game assets into the hands of the user. “The reason we started with games is that they’re by far the most exciting use case for NFTs. There’s $110 billion spent every year on digital property that people have zero rights to, and it’s a complete scam” Robbie said.
As of late October, GameStop NFT has emerged from beta testing. Since its launch in July, it has achieved a total transaction volume of $29 million. Although this is higher than competitors such as Coinbase NFT, it is still far away from industry leader OpenSea, which generated $309 million in October alone.
However, Gamestop NFTs’ decision to enter Web3 gaming holds great promise in the long run. The rise in digitized gaming in recent years has led to a sharp drop in revenue for the physical store-orientated company, forcing them to search for a new niche.
(Source: Statista)
Blockchain gaming appears to be the most promising upcoming avenue for traditional gaming companies looking to reclaim their share of the market. At the same time, traditional gaming companies entering the market should provide a huge boost for Web3 gaming as a whole. GameStop’s move should bring the nascent industry to a largely untapped traditional gaming audience while providing a mainstream platform for Web3 developers to sell their in-game digital assets.
FIFA Unveils Four Web3 Games
FIFA, the global governing body of association football, has entered Web3 gaming by launching four unique NFT games ahead of the upcoming world cup in Qatar. After their widely publicized split with game developer EA, FIFA has set the stage for a paradigm shift, striving to become a big player in the GameFi and Metaverse markets.
Early signs came in September of this year, with the launch of a new digital collectible platform FIFA + collect. The new features are built on the Algorand blockchain, which was announced as a regional sponsor of the FIFA World Cup in May.
However, after dipping its toes in the water, it appears FIFA has plunged into the sea ahead of the upcoming World Cup. “The new gaming integrations, all of which are designed with Web3 and the future of digital engagement in mind, are playable around the tournament and each has a unique twist on the globe’s biggest football tournament,” states FIFA on its website. Here is a summary of each new release:
AI League: FIFA World Cup Qatar Edition — 4-V-4 casual street football game played between AI characters, with players’ input coming at pivotal moments in the game. The game features collectible NFTs in the form of players, power-ups, and kits.
Matchday Challenge: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition — NFT Card-based prediction game.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on Phygtle — Players can overlay a “golden globe football” onto their real-world environments and convert it into an NFT for full digital ownership.
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the Upland Metaverse — Users collect World Cup-related-digital assets in a large blockchain Metaverse mapped to the real world. Users can also visit a replica of the FIFA world cup stadium and village in Qatar, and shop for items to customize their digital home in Upland.
FIFA has made it known that this is the first major step in a new era of Web3 adoption by the sporting organization. “As we continue to build our gaming strategy long into the future, it’s certain that Web 3.0 will have an important role to play, and this marks the start of our journey,” said Romy Gai, Chief Business Officer at FIFA.
Going forward in GameFi
There is endless potential for both companies in the GameFi sector. It is easy to see why FIFA has decided to enter the market. Developed with EA, their gaming franchise has been one of the largest in the world for decades and the most profitable feature in recent years is FIFA Ultimate Team. In this mode, players collect and trade cards on a digital marketplace for in-game coins. Below is a graph showing how the market has climbed to over $1.5 billion over the past half-decade.
(Source: Statista)
Blockchain would provide a perfect fit for FIFA Ultimate Team, replacing in-game coins with FIFA’s native token and cards with NFTs. It would also benefit the players, allowing them to make real profits on good trades and facilitating true ownership of in-game assets through NFTs.
As for GameStop, the timing of their move into Web3 gaming is perfect. The market has already begun to drift away from consoles and hard copies and is moving rapidly into a more digital environment. The early entry into GameFi will allow them to carve out a slice of the digital market by creating a trusted and mainstream game-centric NFT marketplace.
Navigate the expanding GameFi market with UpOnly
Every week, more and more mainstream companies, organizations, and celebrities are flooding the GameFi market, all with the desire to stay on the frontiers of online entertainment. When huge companies enter the industry, it boosts the market as a whole.
UpOnly tracks market movements through a sophisticated and comprehensive data directory. With a constant stream of new and exciting partnerships, our catalog continues to fill with promising GameFi projects. Investors can visit the UpOnly website and gain valuable information about the market. Players can find the hottest, latest games through transaction and user volume tracking. Wherever your interest lies in GameFi, UpOnly can aid with educated decision-making and profit maximization.
UpOnly’s week in review
- UpOnly Upgrades Tournament Service This Week
- Huge NAKA Runner Tournament on UpOnly This Week
- UpOnly Extends Tournament Prizes To Include All Polygon Tokens
About UpOnly
UpOnly is a burgeoning data and analytics platform, providing both gamers and investors with insightful and actionable statistics on GameFi and Metaverse projects. The ecosystem is on its way to becoming a one-stop shop for gamers and investors globally, helping users identify the profitable opportunities the market has to offer. Alongside the data directory, UpOnly has launched a decentralized prediction platform to facilitate betting on play-to-earn and Metaverse events. Spectators can tune into tournaments hosted on-site and bet on the players they believe will come out on top. This is just one of many innovations that makes UpOnly one of the most promising projects on the market.
