Many of us remember names such as Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan, and Tom Brady; these athletes became international stars. But over the recent years, we have seen new names gather global attention, such as “Faker”, “s1mple”, and “Doinb”. These are the in-game names of some of the top esports legends.
Esports is vastly different from traditional sports and has faced a lot of criticism as an industry. Many still do not consider it a sport. But esports players work as much as, for example, a football player. They have their schedules, diets, and supplements, and they work every day an average of 12 hours. This is more than just playing games in front of a computer screen. They have millions of fans and have big sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ralph Lauren, and many more.
Blockchain technology has also faced a similar challenge. Just like esports, blockchain is still criticized by some. Since its inception, people have regarded crypto assets with suspicion. Maybe the most interesting correlation between esports and blockchain is that both of these entities have become much more mainstream over the last decade. Since 2017, cryptocurrencies have started to gain more and more interest similar to esports.
A New Revenue Stream
The year 2019 was a fantastic year for esports. We have seen immense growth within the industry. The biggest esports events of the year — Fortnite World Cup, The International, Worlds 2019 — broke the barriers. Esports was no longer considered a niche industry and was becoming more well known across the world. The expectations for 2020 were even bigger. But of course, life went in a different direction in 2020.
COVID-19 came into our lives and our sense of normalcy changed. Many industries around the world were adversely affected by the pandemic, including esports companies. The world became engulfed in a panic state, and COVID-19 policies removed revenue streams of the esports industry. In-person events and esports venues such as festivals were canceled in a matter of days. The esports industry needed to find a new revenue stream.
The Advantage of Esports
Since esports events can be online, the esports industry has an advantage. Some games and venues adapted to the changes during the pandemic, and online events have become the new norm. But even though esports had an advantage, it has been impossible to mitigate all of the effects of the ongoing pandemic. Some teams closed down and had to lay off their employees. Even some of the big esports organizations faced challenges; for example, Astralis had to cut their costs by nearly 30%. This pushed the gaming and esports industry toward different revenue streams, and one of those was blockchain technology.
Blockchain Gaming
Blockchain gaming was around before the pandemic but especially during the pandemic blockchain gaming started to take off. Today gamers are playing blockchain games and it became a new genre. This showed us that the gamer community can adapt to new technologies much faster than other industries.
To be fair blockchain gaming is growing much faster than the traditional games industry. Recently, even AAA companies such as Ubisoft and EA stated that they will implement blockchain technology into their games, and this is a revolution.
Blockchain gaming is slowly moving towards esports but still, it is not widespread, and we believe it does not offer a solution on a fundamental level.
NFTs: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Over the last year, we saw more than a dozen esports organizations realizing the potential of blockchain technology. OG Esports launched their fan tokens and several organizations got sponsored by the biggest exchanges; for example, TSM’s deal with FTX is one of the biggest esports sponsorship deals of all time. Teams and organizations were able to take the advantage of it. But on the player level, blockchain is harder to integrate. This is one of the reasons why IKONIC is integrating NFTs into the esports world.
IKONIC believes that players should own the moment. We encourage them to create, earn, collect, and grow their communities of fellow players and fans. Players can create the most amazing moments and mint them in a unique way with the help of IKONIC.
Our inspiration comes from sports collectibles. There are thousands of collectibles within the traditional sports industry, but nothing for esports. We asked ourselves, What is the most valuable thing in the esports industry?
The answer was simple: Fans want to own the moment, to capture that second that inspires all of us to turn on the Xbox to try the same move. That moment where you see something incredible and want to keep it for an eternity. With the help of IKONIC’s NFT marketplace, you can own that moment forever. Esports fans will love what we are working on.
We want the esports players to have economic freedom and express themselves in a unique way; players should earn from their gameplays. IKONIC is just the tool for them to reach for the stars and become an IKONIC athlete.
Prior to our launch, you will see many partnerships with esports players, communities, and games. We are working hard to bring you the best marketplace for esports where fans and players can create wonderful NFT assets.
We have lots of exciting news coming soon. We cannot wait to show what we have been working on. To get the latest information and exclusive news, please visit ikonic.gg and join the whitelist.
