Category: Gaming

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Nike Launches Web3 Platform .SWOOSH to House NFTs

Global footwear giant, Nike, has announced the launch of its new NFT platform which is touted to become the centrepiece of the brand’s push into Web3.

The platform, known as .Swoosh, will feature Nike’s virtual apparel and footwear creations, which will be able to be purchased, traded and used in a range of yet to be announced Web3 games and “other immersive experiences”. 

.Swoosh, which runs on the Polygon blockchain, will also provide future opportunities for select co-creators to partner with Nike to make NFTs on the platform and earn royalties. 

.Swoosh Nike’s Latest Push Into Web 3

Nike has slowly been increasing its adoption of Web 3 tech over the past few years — in 2019 the brand filed a patent for Web3 enabled sneakers known as ‘Cryptokicks’ and in 2020 Nike acquired fashion NFT startup RTFKT Studios.

The launch of .Swoosh however, suggests a more strategic approach and deeper commitment to Web 3 from Nike. In the release announcing the launch of .Swoosh, Nike spelled out its ambitious hopes for the new platform saying its purpose is to “expand the definition of sport” by “democratising the web3 experience so that everyone can collect, create and own a piece of this new digital world.”

Speaking on the launch of the new platform, Ron Faris, General Manager of Nike Virtual Studios further explained:

“We are shaping a marketplace of the future with an accessible platform for the web3-curious…In this new space, the .SWOOSH community and Nike can create, share, and benefit together.” 

Ron Faris, General Manager of Nike Virtual Studios

.Swoosh will remain in invite-only beta for the rest of 2022, with the first collection planned to be launched sometime in 2023. 

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Crypto News Gaming Immutable X NFTs

GameStop Launches NFT Marketplace on ImmutableX

US-based video game retailer GameStop officially launched its NFT marketplace on October 31 in partnership with the Australian-based Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, ImmutableX.

GameStop’s partnership with ImmutableX was first announced in February of this year, with the NFT marketplace having been in open beta since July.

The crypto market’s reaction to the official launch of the marketplace has been subdued, with data from CoinGecko showing ImmutableX’s price was up just 0.2 percent on the day, at the time of writing.

Web3 Gaming & Carbon Neutral NFTs

GameStop’s new NFT marketplace will allow users to play Web3 games currently being developed on ImmutableX, such as Illuvium, Gods Unchained and Ember Swords. Users of the marketplace will also be able to trade additional NFT collectibles and in-game assets.

In a statement released Monday, GameStop explained that the new marketplace ‘…unlocks access to web3 games and millions of world-class, NFT gaming assets to tens of millions of GameStop players and GameStop Powerup Pro loyalty customers across the United States.’

According to GameStop, the new marketplace will also allow fee-free and carbon-neutral NFT minting:

“The integration between GameStop and ImmutableX will unlock some of the biggest web3 games, which are currently being built on ImmutableX. In addition, the partnership will allow for 100 percent gas-free and carbon-neutral minting and trading on the Company’s NFT marketplace.” 

GameStop Statement

GameStop Embraces Blockchain Technology

GameStop has been a leader among mainstream retailers in adopting blockchain technology. 

In addition to partnering with ImmutableX, in May of this year, the video game retailer launched its own non-custodial crypto wallet. In July it partnered with Loopring to process transactions on its NFT marketplace and just yesterday the Sam Bankman-Fried owned crypto exchange FTX teased an upcoming partnership with GameStop.

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Crypto News Gaming NFTs Payments

Apple Bans NFT Utility  – Continues 30% NFT Commission

The news isn’t great for NFTs following tech giant Apple’s updated App Store review guidelines released Monday October 24 — the rules allow for displaying in-app NFTs but ban the use of NFTs to unlock additional content or features within apps.

In addition to restrictions on NFT usage, the guidelines also state that apps must use Apple’s ‘in-app’ purchase functionality exclusively for any payments required to mint, list or transfer NFTs. The use of any other external payment method, including crypto, is not allowed. 

Apple forces apps to use its ‘in-app’ purchase functionality because it allows the company to collect what’s colloquially known as the ‘Apple Tax’ — a 30 percent surcharge applied to every payment made using ‘in-app’ purchases.

For context, NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Magic Eden charge a 2.5 percent commission on sales.

No Token-locked Content on App Store

Apple’s updated guidelines seem to intentionally limit the functionality of NFTs by preventing some of their most interesting use cases. For example, the guidelines specifically state that NFTs cannot be used to unlock token-locked functionality within the app:

“Apps may allow users to view their own NFTs, provided that NFT ownership does not unlock features or functionality within the app.” 

Apple’s App Store review guidelines

Banning the use of NFTs in this way will substantially restrict their utility in apps available on Apple’s App Store and may even impact NFT prices.

No External Payments, Including Crypto

The guidelines also specifically ban the use of external links to non-Apple payment methods:

“Apps may allow users to browse NFT collections owned by others, provided that the apps may not include buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms other than in-app purchase.”

Apple’s App Store review guidelines

While banning external forms of payment is standard practice for Apple — enabling them to collect a 30 percent surcharge on transactions— it seems to make less sense in the context of NFTs since they’re a form of crypto and are most often traded using other cryptocurrencies, not fiat currencies.

The new guidelines also updated some language around crypto exchange apps intended to ensure they’re compliant with local regulations:

“Apps may facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered only in countries or regions where the app has appropriate licensing and permissions to provide a cryptocurrency exchange.”

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Blockchain Crypto News Gaming Metaverse NFTs

Industry Giants Announce Big Moves into Blockchain Gaming

gamer with hands in the air

The world of blockchain gaming continues to boom, with prominent gaming industry figures, including Sega, Epic Games and PUBG creator Brian Greene, all announcing new blockchain-based projects within the past fortnight.

Blockchain games have generally been poorly received by seasoned gamers, as they’re often brimming with micro-transactions, gambling and/or NFT collectibles. Despite this, blockchain gaming has expanded rapidly over the past few years, growing over 2000% in 2021 alone.

The enthusiasm shown for blockchain projects from reputable industry figures in the past few weeks perhaps marks the start of a transition to higher quality and more positively received games. 

PUBG Jumps Into The Metaverse

The first big announcement came from PUBG creator, Brian Greene on September 28, when he announced his next project, known as Artemis, will be a blockchain-based metaverse game featuring NFTs. According to Greene, Artemis will be an open-world game that will allow players to make anything they can imagine.

In an interview with the HitPoints Substack, Greene was keen to point out the game will not be a cash grab, an accusation levelled at some other blockchain-based games:

“The only way this exists is if it’s made for everyone, and it’s not made for money.” 

Brian Green, PUBG Creator

However, Greene also says players will be able to make money in the game by selling their creations to other players. 

Greene is aware of the pushback against blockchain from the gaming community, but insists he’s committed to using the technology in Artemis, saying “I’m just going to do what I’m going to do…but it doesn’t matter if it’s called the metaverse. I don’t care what people want to call it.”

Epic Games Launches Playable Demo Of Solana-based Star Atlas

The next piece of news came from Epic Games, who released a playable demo of the Solana-based game Star Atlas. The demo, which is a pre-alpha release built using Epic’s Unreal Engine 5, allows players to explore a virtual 3D showroom and inspect ships and other vehicles which they’ve purchased as NFTs. 

Access to the Star Atlas demo is currently limited to holders of Star Atlas NFTs, although access codes will eventually be given to some select non-NFT owners. 

The developer of Star Atlas, ATMTA, says they’ll gradually add more features to the playable demo over the coming months, including the ability for players to take their ships out for a test flight. The date for the full release of Star Atlas hasn’t been specified, but it’s expected to still be several years away.

In addition to releasing the demo, ATMTA also released a developer toolkit designed to ease the development process for others looking to create Unreal Engine 5-powered games leveraging Solana.

Sega Announces Plans To Launch First Blockchain Game

Finally, gaming icon Sega, has announced it’ll be launching its first blockchain-based game in collaboration with developer Double Jump Tokyo. 

The game will be based on Sega’s Sangokushi Taisen arcade franchise and will leverage the Japanese Oasys network, which is designed specifically for blockchain gaming and integrates with Ethereum, Astar Network, and potentially other blockchains.

Sega and Double Jump Tokyo haven’t clarified exactly how blockchain will be incorporated into the game and haven’t specified a release date.

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Australia Crypto Wallets Cryptocurrency Law Cryptocurrency Tax Gaming

Northern Territory Moves to Regulate Crypto Gambling

Cryptocurrency is about to join crocs and Kakadu as one of the three defining features of Australia’s Northern Territory, with plans afoot to include crypto betting as part of the Top End’s regulated gambling industry.

The Australian Northern Territory Racing Commission (NTRC) is seeking input and feedback from gambling licensees on how the regulatory landscape might change in order to get crypto betting off the ground in the NT.

With gambling in Australia regulated by states and territories rather than at federal level, the NTRC oversees all betting interests that are licensed in the NT, including global concerns such as Betfair, Entain Group, Draft Kings and Sportsbet.

Contents of Private Document Made Public

Julian Hoskins, principal of one of Australia’s largest gambling law and regulatory consultancies, Senet, has seen a private document circulated among licensees and chose to shed light on its contents:

Any licensee, for example a sports bookmaker licensed in the Northern Territory, who wants to accept cryptocurrency for billing or paying wages needs permission to do so. And there are certain conditions attached to that.

Julian Hoskins, Senet

“It is clear from the conceptual framework that they are looking at cryptocurrency gambling and not simply exchanging [crypto] for fiat,” Hoskins added, pointing out that gamblers will most likely have to place fiat and crypto bets separately on the one platform as the two financial instruments will not be interchangeable for gambling.

Given the popularity of crypto, I imagine it would be very popular as an alternative to fiat. I think it has the potential to be quite material.

Julian Hoskins, Senet

Other States Likely to Follow Suit

Hoskins says that if this model went according to plan in the Northern Territory, gambling regulators in other states would likely follow suit, while also noting that strict identification requirements have been proposed to maintain compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. As such, gamblers will most likely have to have their crypto wallet addresses verified, with any winnings sent back to the same wallet that made the initial deposit.

According to the document, the NTRC has recommended monthly crypto deposit limits of A$2,000 for the first 12 months, with a maximum bet of A$5,000 per month.

Mindil Beach Casino, Perth, NT. Source: mindilbeachcasinoresort.com.au

Hoskins, who is a gambling industry lawyer, also explained that local gambling companies will be required by law to maintain crypto wallets that contain enough funds to fully collateralise customers’ wagering amounts, as is common in fiat-based gambling.

As for the tax implications of using volatile crypto assets to gamble, Hoskins said he was not sure “how that would be handled”, which suggests the NTRC is still considering such issues.

This all comes just days after the recently elected federal government outlined its approach to crypto regulation, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers announcing a “token mapping” exercise that is expected to help “identify how crypto assets and related services should be regulated”.

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Australia Blockchain Crypto News Gaming Immutable X

Australian Blockchain Company Immutable X Cuts Staff Amid Crypto Crunch

Melbourne-based Australian crypto gaming startup Immutable has this week laid off at least 20 staff, many of them core members of its NFT trading card game, Gods Unchained.

News of the redundancies hit social media when one of the game’s original developers, James Wakeham, tweeted he’d been tapped on the shoulder and was now looking for work:

The layoffs, which affect an estimated 6 percent of Immutable X’s total workforce, were jointly announced by recently appointed chief studio officer Justin Hulog and Immutable CEO and co-founder James Ferguson. Staff on leave were given just 24 hours’ notice to attend a meeting at which the pink slips were handed out.

Exponential Growth Gives Lie to Layoffs

Despite the layoffs, Immutable X appears to be growing exponentially. A spokesperson for the company said it had more than doubled its full-time headcount from 120 at the beginning of the year to 280, with plans to reach 360 by the end of the year.

Regarding this week’s layoffs, the spokesperson added that the company had “made a difficult choice” in conducting “a small reorganisation within Gods Unchained to help better enable us to achieve our goal of creating the next generation of Web3 games”.

That said, Gods Unchained’s player base has more than halved since early April from 22,000 unique players logged into the free-to-play game down to 10,000, as per data from Cards Unchained, a privately run site tracking the game. Immutable’s cryptocurrency token, IMX, which is used to trade assets in Gods Unchained, has also seen its value fall from about US$11 in November 2021 to just above $1.

However, according to a bullish internal memo circulated among Immutable staff this week, a reallocation of resources would see the company investing in roles to enable Gods Unchained to scale “to millions of players over the next year”.

Immutable X Still Aggressively Hiring

Post-redundancies, the only remaining workers on Gods Unchained are junior and C-suite staff. However, Immutable is looking to hire a creative director and UI (user interface) designer specifically for the project, as well as listing 22 other general vacancies for remote workers across Australia.

In February this year, Immutable X partnered with retail game giant GameStop to create its new NFT marketplace, as well as establishing a US$100 million fund to support innovation in the NFT space. And just over a month ago, the company launched a US$500 million developer and investment fund.

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Crypto News Gaming NFTs

Minecraft Bans NFTs and Blockchain Integrations

Minecraft has announced it will be banning the use of NFTs and blockchain technology on its servers. The highly popular sandbox game also seeks to prevent the creation of NFT projects based on its assets.

Mojang, Minecraft’s creator, has justified the decision by stating that NFTs are not inclusive of its full community. The bans are being met with mixed feelings on social media:

Mojang Goes It Alone

Mojang, the developer behind the hit video game Minecraft, seems to have little interest in allowing its property to operate in conjunction with independent NFT projects.

Blockchain technology on independent game servers (operated by fans and creators) that utilise any aspect of Minecraft imagery to create NFT projects will be prohibited. The notice issued by Minecraft claims that the decision was made based on ensuring players would “have a safe and inclusive experience”.

The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players”

Mojang statement

However, NFT Worlds, a Web3 gaming project specifically focused on third-party blockchain and NFT Minecraft integrations, has made the bold statement that it won’t be leaving. The announcement has caused prices for the project’s NFTs to plummet by 70 percent, and its native token (WRLD) to also drop by 65 percent. Regardless, it seems the developers have no intention of leaving the community:

However, Mojang has not definitively ruled out blockchain tech for its future, stating that it plans to monitor the evolution of the space.

Initial NFT and Web3 Integration

Last year saw Minecraft introduce NFTs to the game, permitting players to collect in-game digital assets which then granted them access to special quests and other benefits. The NFTs were to be powered by a project called Enjin (ENJ), which allowed digital assets to be stored on the blockchain. Players were then required to scan a QR code which transferred the NFT automatically to their Enjin. The wallet could then be linked to the cross-platform gaming network MyMetaVerse.

Then, in March 2022, the game decided to make the move into Web3. ‘NFT Worlds’ was set to be the blockchain layer added to third-party Minecraft servers, alongside a Polygon-based overlay and an Ethereum sidechain offering gas-free transactions. The announcement drew an overwhelmingly positive reaction across social media at the time.

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Crypto News Gaming Metaverse NFTs

Playboy Set to Launch ‘MetaMansion’ in The Sandbox

Soon to enter its 70th year, seemingly ageless lifestyle brand Playboy is building on its Web3 presence to launch what it calls the MetaMansion in collaboration with NFT-based metaverse gaming platform The Sandbox.

This new, virtual version of the Playboy mansion will feature a host of gaming, social and programmed events, along with future NFT collectibles.

Rabbitars Lose Their Bounce

The MetaMansion is an extension of Playboy’s Rabbitars NFT project, 11,953 tokenised bunny avatars that sold for just over US$800 apiece in October 2021. In a sign of these straitened crypto times, the floor price of Rabbitar NFTs on OpenSea is down 74.25 percent since launch.

In better news for the ageing brand, The Sandbox has stated that users will be able to snap up NFT land plots neighbouring the MetaMansion later this quarter. These should be in hot demand considering someone coughed up US$450,000 to be rapper Snoop Dogg’s virtual neighbour in The Sandbox-based Snoopverse last December.

Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder of The Sandbox, endorsed the platform’s new collaborator with the following warm words:

Playboy is emblematic for its charm, lifestyle, and entertainment content that has transcended generations and [it] has already stepped into Web3 with early success.

Sebastien Borget, chief operations officer and co-founder, The Sandbox

Sandbox Up, SAND Down

The Sandbox has formed a procession of mainstream partnerships with various other popular figures and brands, including the Care Bears, Warner Music, the Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Deadmau5, Atari, the Smurfs and Adidas.

That said, the price of its token (SAND) is down 86.8 percent since its all-time high of US$8.40 in late November 2021. It would appear that both The Sandbox and Playboy remain undeterred, launching the MetaMansion in the depths of the current crypto bear market.

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Crypto News Crypto Wallets Gaming NFTs

GameStop Goes Live with its Much-Anticipated NFT Marketplace

American video game retail chain GameStop has officially launched its long-awaited Ethereum-based NFT marketplace.

The marketplace is running on both the Ethereum mainnet and layer-2 scaling solution Loopring and is hosting various artwork projects, with plans to branch into video games.

Another Start for GameStop

GameStop entered a partnership with Immutable X in February to guarantee future funding (in the form of IMX tokens) for its marketplace. A potential US$150 million in IMX has been negotiated but can only be accessed by GameStop once it reaches certain milestones.

For now, artworks are the only products on the marketplace; however, GameStop is set on the NFT gaming space and plans to bring NFTs to video games. The partnership with Immutable X has created a US$100 million token ‘grant’ fund in hopes of attracting game developers to the marketplace.

GameStop Now a Fully Fledged Crypto Player

In May 2021, GameStop announced development plans for an NFT platform on Ethereum and a new token ($GME). This move accelerated its evolution from a simple retail chain into the crypto industry proper.

Almost exactly a year later, GameStop launched its crypto and NFT wallet, branching further into the digital assets sector. It came in the form of an Ethereum-based browser extension, downloadable from the Chrome Web Store. The wallet is self-custodial and designed with the most recent marketplace addition in mind:

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Blockchain Crypto News Ethereum Gaming Metaverse NFTs Stablecoins Stratis

Stratis (STRAX) Token Soars 160% Amid NFT, Gaming and Stablecoin Announcement

Ethereum-based, decentralised blockchain platform Stratis has witnessed its native token STRAX rocket 103 percent in one 24-hour period this week, cooling off from a rally that at one point reached 160 percent.

STRAX took off minutes after the project announced a series of updates, including a new ticketing system via which NFTs will be used to validate entry to venues and distribute rewards at events.

Stratis has also foreshadowed several new blockchain-powered video games set to hit its mainnet later this year, along with issuing an update on its launch of a stablecoin pegged to the British pound called Great British Pound Token (GBPT).

PwC to Provide Audit Services for New Stablecoin

The platform is currently working with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) to complete regulatory registration and expects the partnership to be ongoing with PwC providing auditing services for the GBPT stablecoin’s implementation.

According to the Stratis announcement, “With entities like Visa increasingly willing to accept stablecoin payments, there’s a huge opportunity to simplify cross-border and wholesale payments using blockchain technology.”

Prior to this week’s STRAX price rally, the team behind the protocol teased the upcoming launch of Sky Dream Mall, a new metaverse project powered by the Stratis blockchain:

STRAX Defies Market Conditions

All of which is in clear defiance of the current bear market and the onset of the so-called ‘crypto winter’. These are arguably the most positive developments in the sector since April, when blockchain-based music platform Opulous saw the price of its token, OPUL, rally 175 percent after it announced DeFi staking, CEX listings and S-NFT sales.

You’d have to go back even further to find another one-day performance to rival that of STRAX this week. In February this year, the utility and governance token for the DEX Injective Protocol rallied more than 100 percent in a single day following the listing of Cosmos (ATOM) perpetual futures on the platform.