NSE And Barclays Renew Partnership And Announce An Expanded Games Innovation Challenge

After a successful year-long partnership over the 2020/2021 academic year, Barclays and NSE (National Student Esports), the official body for university esports in the UK and the most active grassroots gaming community in the country, have renewed their partnership. Barclays commitment to grassroots games and esports will see the bank sponsor the British University Esports Championships (BUEC) and the second Games Innovation Challenge, which will take place in 2022.

In the 2020/21 season, BUEC saw over 1,700 teams from 100 universities compete across a number of esports titles and this year’s championship, which is currently ongoing, has already seen a significant rise in numbers signing up to compete. 

Meanwhile, the Games Innovation Challenge, a games development competition for students across the UK to test their skills and creativity, is expanding in its second year, to allow even more students to take part across a wider range of categories, with applications opening in January.

Previously, the competition was only eligible for university students, however going forward, the competition is open to college students aged 16 and over. Plus, five new award categories have been introduced for 2022 which are Gameplay, Design, Social Impact, and two platform awards which are the Unity Choice Award and the Epic Choice Award where the best games developed on the respective platforms will be selected.

Starting in January, participants will have nine weeks to create the most innovative games with the chance to win across the five categories for a part of the prize pool totalling £5,000. The winner for the best game overall will receive £2,500. 

For the Gameplay Award, the games will be judged on the most original concept, excellent storytelling and enjoyable gameplay. Design elements will be judged from sound, art style, graphics, and technical quality to win the Design Award. As for the Social Impact category, purpose must be at the heart of the game and could tackle difficult issues such as promoting environmental sustainability or considering accessibility.

A panel of gaming and esports industry experts will be judging the entries on the five categories and the overall innovation of each submission.

Teams can be formed of students from different universities or colleges and can also contain non-students. However, to participate in the challenge, the majority of the team and the project lead must be enrolled at a university or college. Any platform and prebuilt assets can be used, provided that they have the permission or license to do so.

Alex Coulson, Managing Director, NSE, said:

“We’re so pleased to renew our partnership with Barclays and to see the Games Innovation Challenge return after such a successful competition earlier this year. The expansion to include college students is especially exciting and will add to a pool of an already talented group of students. 

“We’re grateful to have Barclays’ support to give opportunities to champion and develop the diverse student community. The games submitted in the 2021 challenge surpassed our expectations and we can’t wait to see what games are designed next year.”

David Gowans, Head of Games and Esports, Barclays, added:

“We are excited to continue our partnership with NSE. The success of the first Games Innovation Challenge helped to highlight the calibre of future developer talent the UK has to offer. Continuing to work with NSE on its second iteration, with the prospect of bringing in a wider range of participants, gives us an even greater opportunity to continue our support of the growing games and esports industries, from the grassroots up.”

LIVENow Secure Broadcast Rights To Stream Australia’s 2021/22 Big Bash League Season

LIVENow bolsters their ever-increasing sports line up by adding Cricket Australia’s 2021/22 Big Bash League, the men’s Twenty20 cricket competition.

Following Australia’s T20 World Cup victory, the upcoming BBL11 tournament will be the most competitive yet, with 8 teams competing from Sunday 5th December and throughout the winter. Australian cricket fans can purchase pay-per-view Passes for 2.99 or a Season Pass for £24.99 exclusively from LIVENow.

Head of Sport, Peter Leible comments, “We’re delighted to add to our live sports programming this winter to include Cricket Australia’s men’s Big Bash League tournament. We’re pleased to give cricket fans who live abroad easy access to watch these matches from wherever they call home.”

Alistair Dobson, Cricket Australia’s ‘General Manager – Big Bash Leagues’ said, “We’re delighted to welcome LIVENow on board to stream the BBL|11 season across a host of Asian and European countries. The BBL is one of the world’s best T20 Leagues and we hope our fans enjoy tuning in from wherever they are.”

LIVENow’s Australian cricket coverage builds on the service’s fast-growing portfolio of sports rights. In Singapore, LIVENow were the exclusive home for EURO 2020 this summer and are bringing fans live pay-per-view coverage from the English Premier League throughout 2021/22.

LIVENow also distributed EURO 2020 in the Philippines and streamed the Emirates FA Cup, Italy’s Serie B and Serie C. They also stream RIZIN mixed martial arts and European Football League across various international markets.

The Rising Stars Of Sports Betting

Last night, SBC held their North America Awards in New York, recognising the achievements of operators, affiliates and suppliers from all the major disciplines including payments, marketing, platform providers and data.

SBC is the largest news publisher in the betting and gaming industry, dedicated to developing the betting and gaming industries, and a major event company, hosting some of the world’s leading sports betting industry events.

The SBC Awards recognize the achievements of operators, affiliates and suppliers from all the major disciplines including payments, marketing, platform providers and data.

“Content automation is something that is becoming increasingly necessary for many organisations, as the need for regular, high-quality content is at an all time high.”

SBC play a major role in the gambling industry and were hosting their latest awards to recognise the leaders in the sector and those who are making waves throughout it.

GTG network, members of iSportConnect’s community, were a nominee at this week’s SBC North America Awards in the ‘Rising Star In Sports Betting & Casino’ category.

Alongside the company competing for the award were strong competitors who are also making strong moves and helping the overall betting industry to keep taking forward-thinking, progressive options. 

Through their iSportGenius data service, GTG collate over 20,000 statistics per sporting event, but also have two key products that are crucial and becoming more in-demand for the industry and other sectors.

While data is of course critical (GTG hold partnerships with some major names in this space, two notable ones being DraftKings, PaddyPower and Barstool Sportsbook, as well as many others) they also service gamification and, more recently, content automation.

Content automation is something that is becoming increasingly necessary for many organisations, as the need for regular, high-quality content is at an all time high. 

This content offering now extends to entirely automated feature length articles, to assist publishers with a next generation journalistic solution. GTG also helps publishers by producing automated preview videos as well as short videos containing their data facts.

“Words like relationship and engagement are key, whether you’re a sportsbook, a sports media company, a team, a league, or anyone else in the sports ecosystem, you want to be generating additional engagement with your customers, fans and followers.”

As Nathan Rothschild, Co-Founder & Partner of GTG Network recently explained in an interview with iSportConnect, they have developed proprietary text scanning technology which automatically recognizes keywords in an article to deliver contextual content and, where desired, sports betting CTAs.

“We’re now producing entirely automated feature length articles of 500+ words, which is the result of a heap of work over a number of years,” Nathan adds. 

“That’s underpinned, not just by robotic type words strung together, but by the most interesting insights in sport as it relates to data and the fact we can then expand that out into a journalistic solution, that’s a huge part of the future.”

The company also offers highly bespoke products which focus on customer and fan engagement, delivering prediction, arcade, trivia and bracket games across many different formats (web, app and in-venue).

Through the creation of these alternative games it provides an offering and a way to interact with those who may not be looking to actually wager money on these platforms, but still giving the companies a chance to engage with a wider audience.

Nathan states: “Words like relationship and engagement are key, whether you’re a sportsbook, a sports media company, a team, a league, or anyone else in the sports ecosystem, you want to be generating additional engagement with your customers, fans and followers.”

“There’s quite a significant opportunity for advertising, but ultimately the ability to drive additional traffic to a digital destination and also create new monetisation streams is where I see the role of our arcade games.”

Gallagher And Premiership Rugby Announce Multi-Year Sponsorship Renewal

Premiership Rugby and Gallagher have today announced a multi-year renewal of their existing partnership.

Gallagher, one of the world’s largest insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services companies, has reaffirmed its commitment to the sport as the official title partner to elite rugby’s most competitive league. The partnership extension builds on its first four years of a successful sponsorship that has delivered year-on-year increases in brand awareness and business value.

Grassroots engagement has also been central to Gallagher’s partnership alongside its support of the professional game, including its sponsorship of Project Rugby. Run in conjunction with Premiership Rugby and England Rugby, this ground-breaking community inclusion programme – which is set to welcome its milestone 70,000th participant – continues to break down barriers to participation in the sport and increase the accessibility of rugby to young people from under-represented groups and parts of society.

Having established itself as a professional sports competition of global relevance and reach, Gallagher Premiership Rugby now enjoys an international audience of more than 150 million households across 135 different territories, mirroring Gallagher’s own global footprint. In the UK, TV audiences watching Gallagher Premiership Rugby have grown strongly. BT Sport saw a 16% rise in the average audience last season – a level of growth that has continued into the 2021-22 campaign.

Christopher E. Mead, Chief Marketing Officer of Gallagher, said: “Gallagher Premiership Rugby is a league like no other; its combination of high-octane action and intense competition continue to attract an ever larger audience both in the UK and around the globe. That has taken the Gallagher brand into millions of new homes and businesses, created a better understanding of what we do and how we can help individuals and organisations manage personal and commercial risk. Through this new agreement, we look forward to strengthening a natural partnership between two increasingly globally-known and fast-growing franchises with shared values and ethical codes.

“Committing to extend our role as title partner will allow us to build on the fantastic awareness already generated by the partnership, deepen our connections with the communities surrounding the 13 Gallagher Premiership Rugby clubs and help us support local business partners with specialist advice and products tailored to their individual needs. Being able to welcome fans, including our own Gallagher colleagues and clients, back into stadiums has been brilliant and given us a powerful reminder of how sport can bring people and communities together.”

Mark Brittain, Chief Commercial Officer of Premiership Rugby, said: “Gallagher Premiership Rugby has never been more compelling and exciting as it is today and together, with Gallagher, we have found new ways to keep fans engaged, expand our audience and attract ever greater numbers, as we have continued to work together to grow the game. We’re delighted to have renewed our partnership and look forward to building on the last four years for the benefit of everyone involved in club rugby.

“In what has undoubtedly been a testing period for the sports industry, Gallagher has proved itself to be a strong ally and responsive partner ready to meet head-on the challenges the global pandemic levelled at the rugby community.”

AC Milan Launches On Chinese Short Video App Kuaishou

AC Milan is continuing its growth path in the digital world and is reinforcing its presence in the Chinese market by launching its official channel on Kuaishou, one of the most popular platforms for short videos and live streaming in China.

Kuaishou was founded in 2011 and it is an app that allows users to share moments of their daily life in the form of short videos or live streams, during which the streamer can interact with its viewers. Kuaishou is currently the most-downloaded app in China and has already gathered over 573 million users per month.

Via their new Kuaishou channel, AC Milan will publish content ranging from exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, videos from the past and present to local and global fan-related content, all in short-form video formats and through live streaming.

Kuaishou will become a strategic asset to increase localised merchandising and social commerce in China, allowing for more locally-oriented collaborations with opinion leaders and influencers. As part of the launch, AC Milan will host a jersey giveaway, which will be promoted on the app with a video and will put a shirt signed by Olivier Giroud up for grabs.

Launching on the Kuaishou platform allows AC Milan to continue with its modernisation and digitalization process, which began with the arrival of the new ownership in 2018. Since then, the Club has opened channels on the most popular social media platforms to be able to communicate more effectively with the over 500 million AC Milan fans worldwide. In the last year alone, AC Milan has in fact become the most-followed Italian football club on Twitch with over 76,000 followers. In addition, the Club launched the new “The Studios: Milan Media House” – an innovative hub for the production and sharing of media content – which represents a big step in the evolution of AC Milan as a media company. The new Studios allow the Club to reinforce the emotional link with its consumer base and engage new users thanks to increasingly relevant content adapted to the various platforms.

Kuaishou will provide the Club with a new fan engagement tool in a key market for AC Milan, in which the Rossoneri already have a strong digital and physical presence, with a new office that opened in Shanghai earlier in the year. With Kuaishou, the Club is now present on eight social media platforms in China, with over 3.8 million followers across all of them. Earlier this year, AC Milan was also found to be the best-regarded Italian football brand in China by international analysis and research group YouGov.

Launch Of US Rugby Sevens Major League To Take Place In Las Vegas, Teams To Compete For Record $1M Prize

The Rugby Football League (RFL), a newly formed US company, has today launched the first-ever US Rugby Sevens Major League, which will see the world’s best international male players battle it out against the best US players for record-breaking prize money.

Kicking off in October 2022 in Las Vegas, the RFL, aspires to create a truly new fan experience combining the energy of Rugby Sevens events with the excitement of betting, in a new, immersive and integrating offering. Fans at home and in the Stadium will have never seen before access to live betting markets, in-running stats, insights and expert advice throughout each game. The RFL will work with leading betting tech providers to deliver this ground-breaking betting proposition, taking advantage of new innovations and gamification developments – #racetrackrugby.

The inaugural RFL event will feature the top 12 international teams pitted against 4 US Team Franchises to win their share of the $1,000,000 prize money. From 2023, the RFL will expand to up to 17 tournaments in major US cities and will feature up to 16 US Team Franchises playing with top international teams.

The RFL has assembled a team of expert professionals lead by former World Rugby Competition General Manager Philippe Bourdarias (RFL CEO) who commented: “The RFL is an amazing development for the game of Rugby in the US. There is a huge appetite for Rugby Sevens events in the US, as shown by the record breaking RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco and the success of the Las Vegas Sevens over the years. We feel that there is a huge growth opportunity for the RFL and Franchises with an innovative model whereby the League centralises all expenses and rights, leaving the fun side of the League (managing the teams) to the Franchisees.”

Philippe is supported by former Las Vegas Sevens organiser Rob Cornelius (COO) and former European Rugby Cup (Heineken Cup), Paddy Power and Racing Post executive Eugene Delaney (Gaming and Commercial adviser), to build and deliver this ambitious project. Backed by a US-based financial consortium, the League will be a game changing breakthrough for the development of the game in the US.

RFL Gaming and Commercial advisor, Eugene Delaney, said: “The RFL delivers a truly innovative concept with fan engagement front and foremost. We want to provide a new and unique experience for fans at the stadium and at home by working with sportsbooks to create dynamic betting offering, something not available in any of the other US Sports leagues. Our Race Track Rugby concept will enable us to leverage the fast-growing live betting market, providing sportsbooks with a fantastic opportunity for customer acquisition and engagement. Given our unique positioning, we are already in partnership talks with US and European operators.”

Next League Launches With NASCAR Partnership

Next League, founded by a team of digital technology experts with decades of success in the sports, media and entertainment industries, announced its launch today. Driven by the combination of growth and innovation, coupled with making investments that have lasting social impact, Next League is poised to introduce a massive shift to the traditional agency and technology services company model.

With the sweeping digital technology changes currently being introduced and the advent of Web3, Next League is positioned to meet a complex new world of connected technologies head on. Next League will provide thought leadership, product design, software and systems development and integration, and the maintenance and management of existing products and platforms, as well as new and emerging ones. The company is investing in this emerging technology landscape, which includes blockchain and the open metaverse, in addition to new and important technology advancements in sports betting and gaming.  

“Technology has changed more in the last 10 years or so than in the 100 years preceding it, and it’s advancing faster than ever,” said Next League’s Co-Founder and CEO David Nugent. “To remain competitive and successful, companies must understand these changes and adapt them to their businesses. We are excited to bring our decades of experience in our target industries, track record of delivering results, and passion for innovation to the market to help our client partners exceed their goals.”

NASCAR, the top motorsport series in the United States, has already agreed to a multi-year client partnership.

“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working closely with the team that is leading Next League for many years,” said Tim Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at NASCAR. “2022 is going to be a huge year for us as we roll out our NextGen car, among other initiatives. We look forward to partnering with the Next League team as we continue to innovate and develop new ways to engage our existing fans and reach new ones.”    

Next League is focused both on the results it commits to delivering and the quality of the experience getting to that result. 

“In addition to thought leadership and deep technology expertise, our value lives within the people who work for the company. We hire great people and then align them to the people and culture of our client’s organizations,” added Mike Grushin, Next League’s Co-Founder and CTO. “As is the case with NASCAR and others, this is part of the value we bring to our clients which has led to real partnerships that last many years.” 

With a commitment to team (both client partners and employees), diversity (creating meaningful opportunities for women and people of color) and cause (a percentage of profits will be donated to various nonprofit causes), Next League is proud to lean into its positioning as a talent and culture-driven organization. 

“Dave, Mike, and their entire team have spent many years delivering great results and the highest level of service for some of the most important sports and media properties in the world,” said Doug Perlman, Founder and CEO of Sports Media Advisors, who also sits on the Next League Advisory Board. “I know the sports ecosystem will be excited about this latest venture; it’s never been more needed than it is right now.” 

Next League’s other Advisory Board members include Alysse Soll (Chair, Women in Sports Tech and Deal Co-Chair of the Harvard Business School HBS Alumni Angels), Dan Mannix (Senior Advisor, CSM North America) and Igor Ulis (Chief Digital Officer, Liberty Lending). 

More information on Next League, and its positioning as part of a larger business announcement, will come in early 2022.

ParalympicsGB And Adidas Renew Partnership Until 2024

ParalympicsGB and adidas have renewed their partnership for a further three years in a deal that covers both the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Summer Games.

The extended partnership builds on a strong history between adidas and Great Britain’s Paralympic team which dates back to the Beijing 2008 Games, when adidas first became the official kit supplier to the team.

As part of the renewal, adidas and ParalympicsGB will explore new ways to evolve the partnership to harness the growing interest in Paralympic sport and the ParalympicsGB team.

Mike Sharrock, Chief Executive of ParalympicsGB, said: “I am delighted that ParalympicsGB will continue to work closely alongside adidas for the next three years.

“Our collaborative relationship has meant that for the last 13 years the ParalympicsGB team has been empowered to perform at the highest level on the field of play while proudly wearing kit that not only looks great but incorporates the very best in innovation and technology.

“adidas’ support has enabled ParalympicsGB and our athletes to continually break down barriers and challenge stereotypes around disability, and I believe that together we can expand on this even further as we strive to ensure disability, and ParalympicsGB, remain Impossible to Ignore.”

Chris Walsh, VP Brand, adidas Northern Europe said: “At adidas we pride ourselves on crafting product that is inclusive, with creativity and innovation at its heart. We have brought those values to life in the ParalympicsGB kit designs throughout our collaboration and we are excited to continue our winning partnership.”

Penny Briscoe, ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission at Tokyo 2020, said, “Yet again adidas delivered a superb array of kit for our ParalympicsGB athletes at Tokyo 2020, putting performance across all sports – from archery to wheelchair rugby – at the heart of their thinking.

“I know the entire team in Tokyo was enormously proud to pull on their ParalympicsGB adidas kit on the biggest stage of all, the Paralympic Games. Knowing that the kit had sustainability and performance technologies at its core made it all the more exciting and I look forward to seeing what comes next.”

Glasgow To Host 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships

World Athletics has announced that Glasgow will host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships following a successful bid process.

The Emirates Arena will stage the biggest Indoor athletics championships in the world, five years on from holding the hugely successful European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2019.

News of the award has delighted the bid partners EventScotland, Glasgow Life, UK Athletics and UK Sport who received the outcome of the World Athletics Council vote earlier this afternoon.

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, said:

“I’m delighted that Glasgow has been chosen to host the prestigious World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2024. This will underline Scotland’s global reputation as the Perfect Stage for events and is welcome news as we look to recover from the pandemic.”

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said:

“We are delighted that Glasgow and Scotland have been chosen to host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships. Scotland is the perfect stage for events and securing the Championships reinforces our reputation as a global leader in the delivery of innovative and world class events.

“We look forward to working closely with World Athletics and our partners to deliver the truly memorable Championships, and to welcoming athletes and fans from around the world to Glasgow and Scotland in 2024.”

Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, said:

“Today’s announcement by World Athletics recognises Glasgow’s global reputation as a first choice host for major sporting events and as a city with a track record of delivering world-class event experiences. It’s a privilege to be bringing the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships to the Emirates Arena, which is widely regarded as one of the best athletics venues in the world.

“Glasgow is committed to using major international events to encourage participation in sport and physical activity, and to ensuring the positive impact of events benefits local communities. Together with our partners, we’re looking forward to continuing that important work and to delivering an outstanding Championships which helps to inspire Scotland’s next generation of talented athletes.”

Ian Beattie, Chair of UK Athletics said:

“We are delighted to be awarded the opportunity to host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships. World Athletics have demonstrated their confidence in the UK to host global athletics championships once again, and history has shown time and time again our ability to deliver amazing events.

“We’re thrilled with the outcome and look forward to a successful Championships working alongside our partners that will truly give all athletes a fantastic stage upon which to perform.”

Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport said:

“I am delighted that with our event hosting partners, we have secured another world class event to take place in Scotland. As part of our new strategy to reach, inspire and unite communities across the UK, ensuring a wide geographical reach is of utmost importance to us. The National Lottery investment into this event will help ensure a truly inspirational event, both on and off the field of play.”

Why Metaverses Are Exploding In Value

The Metaverse is one of the biggest topics in the world right now. Pedro Febrero, Head of Blockchain at RealFevr, explains what it truly means and why their value is becoming exponentially higher.

‘Metaverse’ refers to the transformation of the physical space into the digital realm. In a way, it’s opening a Pandora’s box to a new universe of possibilities that will, in our humble opinion, become the new frontier for human interaction: one where avatars will rule the ‘metauniverse’, without borders, restrictions or physical limitations.

We believe that the critical innovation of the metaverse is that it will allow peers to create, connect, feel and live inside a digital community. 

From Web 2.0 to Web 3.0

“The next major technological platform for creative expansion of the mind will be cyberspace, or more specifically the Metaverse, a functional successor to today’s 2D Internet, with virtual places instead of Webpages.” – Alex Vikoulov, “The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind’s Evolution”.

“While we acknowledge that cyber-communities have been there since the dawn of the internet, the revolution the metaverse is leading to is far greater than a few chat rooms”

Humans are social creatures, and like all social beings, we crave human companionship and interaction. 

What’s the point of succeeding in life if there’s nobody there to cheer for you, love you and cherish those precious moments with you?

While we acknowledge that cyber-communities have been there since the dawn of the internet, the revolution the metaverse is leading to is far greater than a few chat rooms, giant social media and online marketplaces, behemoths, and gaming.

It’s our core belief that metaverses incorporate far greater features and embed technology that is unmatched by any web2 competitor that exists today. Not only is a metaverse a digital social space, but they also provide a “physical” digital space for users to build their infrastructure on (like Minecraft), open marketplaces of non-fungible and fungible items (NFTs and tokens), a voting structure for token holders to express their opinions and vision (Opensea, Snapshot), as well as open-protocols that enable participants to build financial systems (Maker, Aave) are interoperable and allow any peer to transpose items from one metaverse into another (Decentraland, The Sandbox, Cryptovoxels, etc.). 

Essentially, Web3 opens the doors to a p2p-style matrix that connects every user to a dimension outside the “meat-space”. 

How Do Metaverses Work?

According to Investopedia:

“The metaverse is a digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually. Augmented reality overlays visual elements, sound, and other sensory input onto real-world settings to enhance the user experience. In contrast, virtual reality is entirely virtual and enhances fictional realities. 

As the metaverse grows, it will create online spaces where user interactions are more multidimensional than current technology supports. Instead of just viewing digital content, users in the metaverse will be able to immerse themselves in a space where the digital and physical worlds converge.” 

“Metaverse projects generally have an internal currency that empowers participants to govern the protocol and trade.”

Metaverses exist in many different blockchains, such as Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain, and they create a set of tools and rules that enable participants to create virtual worlds and items. Metaverses typically incorporate a bundle of smart contracts that make them a highly complex Dapp and combine verticals from financials, governance, aesthetics, among other things. 

Commonly, some boundaries limit the size of the virtual world, and users can acquire parcels to build their infrastructure on and to rent or sell. Additionally, metaverse projects generally have an internal currency that empowers participants to govern the protocol and trade. 

Some metaverses have finished products, like Axie Infinity; others let users create their vision within, like Decentraland or The Sandbox. 

Any project that creates a virtual digital economy through gamified steps (or games) has essentially started a metaverse. 

Metaverses

(https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories/metaverse) 

According to Coingecko, the total market capitalization of metaverses projects is close to $30 billion. The three leading projects are Axie Infinity, Decentraland and The Sandbox.

To fully understand the sheer price appreciation of these projects, since their bottom, $AXS has grown 105,831%, $LAND about 42,046%, and $SAND around 14,000%. 

“We think the upcoming years will be generous for all those who build their vision in these metaverses, given the many opportunities that will soon arise.”

While this represents spectacular growth and a massive opportunity to make some sick gains, we think these projects are just starting. The general population awareness for crypto is still relatively low, much less for metaverse-related projects. 

Hence, we think the upcoming years will be generous for all those who build their vision in these metaverses, given the many opportunities that will soon arise. 

Why Are Metaverses Trending?

“Ultima IV was the first game I wanted the player to respond to what I called ‘moral dilemmas and ethical challenges’ as they personally would [and not like an alter ego]. While doing my research on virtues and ethics…to look for ethical parables or moral philosophy I came across the concept of the word ‘avatar’ in a lot of Hindu texts. In that case, the avatar was the physical manifestation of a god when it came down to earth. That’s perfect, because really I’m trying to test your spirit within my fictional realm.” — Richard Garriott, in “Coining Term Avatar”.

(https://www.statista.com/statistics/499714/global-virtual-reality-gaming-sales-revenue/)

According to Statista, the “Global Virtual Reality Gaming Services Revenue” will increase by  600% from 2017 until 2024, which shows the sheer interest by the general public in virtual reality games. 

We add that this chart does not consider the massive growth of metaverse projects in the cryptocurrency space. For instance, there are NFT projects like Cryptopunks or Boredapes that create virtual avatars that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Another example is domain names (ENS, Unstoppable Domains) that enable a human-readable name for blockchain public addresses. These domain name resolvers link addresses to URLs, allowing the owners to receive payments directly to their domain names. 

Hence, we conclude that the Cambrian explosion of metaverses has not yet begun. Once the total value generated reaches $1 trillion, that’s when we believe corporations and behemoths of the private sector will start to pay close attention and to put some serious coin into some of these projects.

Facebook’s recent move to change its name to “Meta”, shows how committed some organizations are towards the digital revolution. 

What RealFevr Envisions For The Future

(https://dappradar.com/nft/marketplaces)

“From 2005 and 2007, I celebrated my birthdays online” – Fred Antunes, CEO at RealFevr.

At this writing, the top three marketplaces had a combined daily volume of over $100 million and a total volume that has already surpassed $15 billion. 

As we wrote above, while these metrics may seem impressive, we think these are still rookie numbers. What we are witnessing is just the tip of the iceberg. The potential growth that is still yet to be unlocked could go far beyond our wildest dreams. 

“Our goal is not only to build critical innovation but also to spawn new revenue streams through services that meet all of our partners web3 needs.”

RealFevr is building towards that future by developing innovative tools in the DeFi space, such as tradable stakes, fractionalized borrowing and lending or NFT fusions; not only that, but we’re also leading the P2E gaming revolution by combining DeFi protocols with NFT-based games that enable a far juicier economical experience to the end-user. 

Our goal is not only to build critical innovation but also to spawn new revenue streams through services that meet all of our partners (clubs and sports institutions) web3 needs, be it blockchain development, product design, consultancy and ultimately, guidance in navigating the metaverse. 

To conclude, RealFevr has so far developed four main products: Fantasy leagues, NFTs (digital collectibles), the marketplace and the staking pools. Each product has massive traction and the profitability rate has been increasing throughout the years.

Our business model incorporates players, clubs and protocol launchpads, meaning that any project can deploy our technology at the click of a button. 

Pedro Febrero, Head of Blockchain, RealFevr

If this piece interests you, you may like to know that we are hosting an open virtual workshop on Tuesday, December 7th at 2pm GMT looking at – The Next Chapter of the Internet: Engaging with the Metaverse via Augmented Reality.

If you would like to join the discussion, please email bethany@isportconnect.com