NFTs in Esports History
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Nft, Blockchain, Esports, Crypto

NFTs (non-fungible-tokens) may be the biggest invention of our time. When it all started most people were really suspicious about it. So what, you can just download the picture online with the click of a button. After some time — it started to blossom and this year we are actually having an NFT BOOM!

Gaming is one of the main pillars of the NFT revolution. When we take a look at games like Axie Infinity we can see that many gamers love playing these games. The number of players is constantly growing, and this is giving a fantastic boost to the NFT community. But Axie Infinity is not a AAA game title. The big developers and publishers have yet to enter blockchain technology, but they are starting to gradually see the benefits. Recently we saw Ubisoft coming forward and stating that they will develop blockchain games, shortly after that EA whispered those magical words that they will develop new innovative ways to use NFTs within their games.

There is also one other industry that is slowly taking advantage of blockchain technology. Esports is in front of traditional sports by a mile when it comes to blockchain technology adaptation. The real boom started during the pandemic. Due to the pandemic — they were forced to look at new ways to generate revenue so they looked into the fantastic way NFTs could be a huge benefit to their business models, and overall company moving forward.

It does look like a match made in heaven, on one hand, we have esports. Completely based on computers and on the other hand we have NFTs and blockchain technology that is also built on computers. This is a natural match and IKONIC will be a pioneer in combining esports and NFTs.

Beginnings

Earlier this year popular streamer “Tfue” came up with his very own NFTs and they were sold out in a matter of days. Soon afterward the infamous esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas introduced their digital jersey’s as NFTs. These limited-edition jerseys sold out in under 120 seconds. The fans were extremely happy with these creations. Hicham Chahine, CEO of NIP, stated “We were beyond excited to bring digital apparel to our fans all across the world.” This was groundbreaking for esports and blockchain technology.

Following these accomplishments, other teams started to look into NFTs in a different way. Several teams also launched their very own NFT collections for their fans. But afterward, something interesting happened. Tournament organizer — WePlay revealed that they will also release NFT collections for esports tournaments. Over the last week, ESL Gaming also partnered with a marketplace to launch their own NFT collection for events, but this is only the beginning.

What can happen in the future?

There are many possible applications of NFTs in gaming. For example — weapon skins within games will be tradeable NFTs, or characters. This has already begun, but the applications will soon spread across the globe.

On the esports level, this is a fantastic opportunity for the whole esports community to embrace the NFTs. Most probably we will see NFT tickets created soon by tournament organizers. Teams will launch more collections and fans will have access to all of these creations.

Still, this does not solve the problems within the industry on a fundamental level. Players are unable to capitalize on their gameplay moment. That is why — with the help of IKONIC players will create their own NFTs, grow their fan base, and earn from their creations like never before. IKONIC is going to solve the problem within esports on a basic fundamental level.

An IKONIC Solution

The question is not “How can we implement blockchain technology into esports?”. The real question is, “How can we solve the issues within esports with blockchain?”

The events are at the mercy of publishers. If publishers want they can cancel an event or block it. Last year even The International event was canceled. The esports events prize model only benefits the winners therefore the system punishes weak teams. Many fantastic gameplays do not even make it to highlights because they are not broadcasted. IKONIC will be the solution to these issues.

The esports industry can break its shackles finally with the help of blockchain technology and IKONIC will help players and fans to “OWN THE MOMENT”.