Plugged in 3verywhere: Detroit Pistons Partnership, EA Sports to Web 3, NBA expanding to China x TopShot court ruling
Issue #14
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Detroit Pistons pairs up with RareAccess
The NBA's Detroit Pistons have partnered with NFT platform RareCircles to launch a new gated fan experience called Pistons RareAccess. The collaboration with RareCircles offers a three-tiered approach to fan engagement via NFTs: Pistons RareAccess will offer Legend Editions, All-Star Editions, and Starter Editions. The new platform provides access to private "Huddle Sessions" with coaches, team executives, and players, as well as limited-edition merchandise drops and gameday ticket giveaways.
The Pistons' Chief Revenue Officer, Dan Lefton, stated
“We are always looking for ways to provide our fans new opportunities to experience the Pistons like never before… Pistons RareAccess will bring fans closer to all the aspects of the Pistons that make NBA basketball a unique and exciting experience. We’re excited to continue to innovate along with our partners at RareCircles to provide Pistons fans the most engaging and exclusive next-generation platforms.”
The RareCircles collaboration with the Pistons is the latest in culture-first thinking for a team that boasts rapper Big Sean as their creative director of innovation. The Pistons' investment in building fan growth via web3 tools is part of a growing trend of NBA clubs looking to token-gate exclusive access and events via NFTs. This allows the club to offer a digital collectible that inherently carries recurring utility.
RareCircles has helped the Pistons take an especially crypto-native approach, with direct utilization of a crypto hot wallet and Ethereum to access the NFTs. However, users can use a credit card for transactions too. The Pistons' move to build fan growth via web3 tools is part of a larger trend of sports teams in the United States and globally exploring the use of blockchain technology to build fan engagement.
NBA Topshot considered securities?
Dapper Labs, the creator of NBA Top Shot, recently faced a denial of their motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit claiming that their NFTs are securities. The ruling does not provide a definitive stance, but it does legitimize the claim. The court evaluated the Howey Test criteria, which are common standards used to determine whether something is a security based on profit expectations and investment perspective. The judge generally found that the criteria did not favor Dapper Labs. However, Top Shot NFTs are unique in that they are not actively traded to wallets and are exclusive to the Dapper Labs-owned marketplace. Therefore, the ruling may only apply to Dapper Labs' NFT products rather than NFTs as a whole. This case has been ongoing for six months and is expected to be a long and arduous process.
EA Sports founder enters Web 3 gaming
Former Apple executive and founder of Electronic Arts, Trip Hawkins has joined Games for a Living (GFAL) as co-founder and strategy chief. GFAL develops titles compatible with blockchain technology across consoles, personal computers, and smartphones - commonly called Web3.
Interest in Web3 gaming has risen over the past year, with players able to own, sell, and trade in-game goods in such games. Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming developer Animoca Brands, which backs popular NFT game Axie Infinity, raised more than $500 million in 2022. "Web3 is the bridge to the metaverse," Hawkins said on Thursday. "And if we're going to make a metaverse, the economy of the metaverse has to be more like the real world." Although there are concerns around security as "cyberwallets" are more prone to hacking, developers are also looking to diversify their platforms amid stunted growth and high app-store fees. GFAL, founded in 2021 by former King executive Manel Sort, had a post-money valuation of 13.2 million euros ($13.96 million) after their latest funding round last year.
Games for a Living (GFAL) has released its first game, Elemental Raiders, which is available for free on Steam. Although it does not include tokenized elements, the publisher has previously launched Ethereum-based NFTs tied to the game, and will release an NFT “battle pass” in March, along with its own GFAL token. An official Elemental Raiders tournament will be held in early March, with NFT and token rewards, but not in the Steam version of the game. GFAL tokens will be minted on BNB Chain, along with most in-game NFTs.
The publisher's whitepaper explains that GFAL will eventually use its own private blockchain for games rather than an open, permissionless network like Ethereum or Solana. However, private blockchains are seen by many crypto builders as antithetical to the Web3 ethos, as they are not open and permissionless networks that anyone can freely build on. In some cases, networks created by a centralized company can be progressively decentralized over time and turned over to the community, but the publisher's whitepaper does not explicitly state those intentions.
NBA teams up with Ant Group to launch basketball-themed NFTs and expand reach in China
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has partnered with Ant Group, Alibaba's fintech affiliate, to launch basketball-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and create content.
The move aims to expand the NBA's reach in China, where it already has over 170 million fans. The collaboration involves the launch of a mini-app on Alipay, Ant Group's flagship mobile app and China's largest third-party payment platform. The app will provide Chinese fans access to NBA video content and services such as joint membership of NBA and Alipay.
The partnership is part of a growing trend of NBA clubs looking to engage fans through NFTs and other web3 tools. NBA Top Shot, an NFT collection launched in partnership with Dapper Labs in 2020, is the 7th largest NFT collection by all-time trading volume, according to CryptoSlam. In September 2022, NBA entered a partnership with blockchain gaming company Sorare to launch Sorare NBA, an Ethereum-based game where players can win, trade, and play with NFT basketball cards. The collaboration with Ant Group is expected to bring NBA's fan engagement into the virtual space in China and expand the NBA's reach in one of the world's largest hotspots for American basketball consumerism.
Adidas long-term Web 3 strategy
Adidas is considering integrating a cryptocurrency into its Web3 strategy. The company's Web3 lead, Erika Wykes-Sneyd, revealed that the sports and fashion brand has discussed the possibility of adding a cryptocurrency payments plugin, but she is unsure if it would solve any problems. Instead, Adidas would likely focus on promoting communities and offering unique digital drops, leveraging its early crypto experiences.
For instance, Adidas invested in a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT in December 2021 and issued its own 30,000 NFT drop that same month, generating $23.4 million in a single afternoon from the debut "Into the Metaverse" drop. Wykes-Sneyd noted that there are interesting payments in Apecoin and other coins that could be used to gate exclusive drops for specific communities and currencies. This approach would align with Adidas' corporate strategy of targeting crypto communities and using token-gated tactics to avoid the common problem of bots buying all the limited-edition sneakers.
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