Checkpoint reached. A big development in the world of NFT gaming was revealed overnight. Fantasy action RPG Guild of Guardians has teamed up with eight prominent esports organisations in a multi-year partnership.
Stockhead spoke with Derek Lau, the Game Director of Ubisoft-backed Guild of Guardians, last week, although not about this. At that time, he told us he believed the “blockchain gaming stigma is lifting”.
And it’s no wonder he thinks that, because this is definitely a big step in the right direction towards acceptance from the world of mainstream gaming.
With an estimated global revenue in 2022 of about US$1.3 billion, esports is on its way to becoming kind of massive.
If you know perhaps just a little bit about esports, you might even recognise some of the following names participating in this partnership: Cloud9, Fnatic, NAVI, Ninjas in Pyjamas, NRG, SK Gaming, T1, and Team Liquid.
Actually never heard of them? That’s okay, but they are kind of a big deal in the fast-growing, online-gaming spectator-sports category.
In fact, five of them (Team Liquid, Cloud9, Fnatic, NRG and T1) are among the top 10 most valuable esports teams in 2022, according to Forbes.
And combined, the eight new Guild of Guardian esports participants have a valuation of nearly US $2 billion. Which is, frankly pretty mind-boggling stuff for what is essentially a bunch of thumb-based athletes who may or may not have recently moved out of their parents’ basement.
‘Excited by digital ownership’
Guild of Guardians, by the way, is published by Sydney’s Immutable Games Studio and developed by Ukrainian company Stepico Games.
According to an announcement shared with Stockhead, the aim of the partnership between these entities and the teams is to “build the future of blockchain gaming and digital entertainment and open Guild of Guardians pre-registration to the largest esports communities around the world”.
The eight esports organisations will join GoG’s frenetic and colourful fantasy world, “representing their brands as full-fledged, playable characters” according to Immutable and GoG.
“These characters will be tradable as digital collectibles on the fully carbon-neutral scaling solution, Immutable X,” read the statement.
Way over a quarter million pre-reg’d players
GoG already has more than 250,000 (verging on 300,000 pre-registered players, according to Lau) but the new partnership should expose the game to millions of esports fans. On Twitter alone, the esports teams are followed by more than 6.3 million users combined.
“This is an incredible opportunity to team up with some of the most prominent and recognisable names in the professional esports space,” said Lau, adding: “GoG is a mobile team RPG which is built for players and designed as a highly accessible game, making it the perfect gateway into the world of web3 for all players.”
“We’re thrilled to partner with Guild of Guardians in what we believe to be a hugely symbiotic relationship for both our industries – gaming and esports,” said Pietro Fringuelli, Chairman of the Executive Board of The World Esports Association (WESA).
“We’re excited by the notion of digital ownership and the ability to earn and trade in-game characters,” he continued.