EA Sports games could soon feature Nike .Swoosh NFTS – though they’re careful to call them ‘virtual creations’ rather than NFTs.
The clamour surrounding NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – died down some time ago, but the spectre of blockchain-based digital items still lingers in parts of the games industry.
Case in point: EA Sports, which has just announced a deal with Nike Virtual Studios. Said deal will see Nike’s .SWOOSH NFTs appear in EA Sports’ games, which means you could be seeing things like branded helmets, footballs and trainers appear in, say, Sports FC or Madden NFL. But thanks to the power of the blockchain, these branded goods won’t be like the usual unlockable items typically found in games; instead, each will have an ID number unique to its owner. Something all gamers will find incredibly useful and exciting, we’re sure.
Curiously – or perhaps strategically – terms like ‘NFT’ and blockchain are glaringly absent from EA Sports’ press release (thanks, IGN), which describes Nike’s digital trinkets as “.SWOOSH virtual creations.”
“This collaboration brings together two of the biggest names in sport and entertainment and will lead to all new ways for members of .SWOOSH, Nike’s new digital community experience, and EA SPORTS fans to express their personal style through play,” the release reads. “Nike’s new partnership with EA SPORTS will look to build new immersive experiences and unlock brand-new levels of customization within the EA SPORTS ecosystem.”
Nor is it currently clear which games, exactly, Nike’s virtual creations will appear in, how much they’ll cost, or when they’ll launch. Nike has put out a tweet announcing the deal, though, which shows lots of CGI balls and helmets spinning around:
What’s In The Game? Only time will tell…@EASPORTS x .SWOOSH 🎮⚽️🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/AXgidKX7rd
— .SWOOSH (@dotSWOOSH) June 1, 2023
NFTs, blockchain and web3 have been contentious games industry topics over the past couple of years. Detractors have sworn off them entirely, while some of the globe’s biggest publishers and studios – including EA, Square Enix and Niantic – have all dabbled in the nascent sector.
Will NFTs bounce back from last year’s quite spectacular crash, or will mass audiences warm to the idea of exchanging real-world cash for virtual helmets? Many of Twitter’s blockchain enthusiasts have expressed excitement over the EA Sports-Nike NFT deal. “This is huge!” reads one of several quote-tweets of that .SWOOSH post above; “This takes NFTs into a whole new realm and to a whole new audience… and some of you thought they were dead!”
That tweet concludes with a winking face emoji.
