Sports fans are interesting; they follow their team around the country religiously, regardless of the level of success or weather.
They’re a captivated audience, so the business (which is what a sports team is) has a customer base that’s so loyal it doesn’t matter what they do. However, they’re almost the most critical customer, ready to bemoan paying hundreds of dollars for a new jersey but doing it anyway.
Oddly, they’re also widely accepting of digital assets, something that gaming developers have struggled to get over in their industry. What about the digital assets we’ve seen in sports that gaming developers should note? Why are NFTs and other digital assets popular with the most critical customer, the sports fan, but they’ve not got over in gaming?
Digital Assets in Gaming
It’s fair to say digital assets have not been well received in gaming circles. FIFA 22 is one of the biggest games on the planet, and developer EA Sports felt NFTs were a logical step to take, especially with their Ultimate Team mode being a collection of sorts. “Collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. Fans disagreed and after a vicious two-month backlash, the company backtracked. “We’ll evaluate that over time,” Wilson told Forbes weeks later. “Right now it’s not something that we’re driving hard against.” This is a situation repeated worldwide; Team 17 withdrew plans to release Worms NFTs after their staff rebelled, whilst Ubisoft’s foray into NFTs was described as a dumpster fire by Ars Technica.
Fan Tokens in Sports
Where are gaming developers going wrong? The first example can be found in fan tokens, predominately released on the Socios platform. Fan tokens are digital assets backed by cryptocurrency, much like that introduced into gaming, but they’ve succeeded. Why? What sets them apart?
The key takeaway for developers is that fan tokens offer real-world benefits. They’re not just a cynical attempt at monetizing a product; they have a tangible benefit for the owner. For instance, those holding an Arsenal fan token could have a say on their season’s jersey design and choose the song played after a goal. Rather than just owning a digital item, there was an obvious benefit for the holder.
That needs to be part of the focus for those looking to implement digital content within a video game. Rather than just a skin for a gaming character, is there something else that can be offered, like exclusive DLC or some other form of real-life benefit?
NFT in Sports
Sports teams have also been relatively successful with NFTs, a sector EA Sports could learn from. In sports, collectables have always been popular; trading cards have been swapped for years, and some have incredible value. That’s potentially why sports card collections released as NFTs have done well; they’re merely adding a facet to an existing hobby rather than trying to exploit existing trading card fanatics. Also, digital trading cards have been a thing for many years; turning that into an NFT industry adds value, not exploiting an existing market. Trading cards still exist for those who want a physical product.
Also, gamifying trading cards has been popular, but not as EA Sports might hope. Their Ultimate Team mode already exists, and by looking to crowbar NFTs in, gamers feel their loyalty to the game is being tested and exploited. Sorare is a football card trading game based on NFTs, but crucially it didn’t exist before the NFT craze. When a sports fan sees a new product around an NFT, it feels more genuine, as if the developer is trying to deliver something new. However, EA Sports got it wrong by trying to change their existing model (already classed as exploitative by some) to incorporate NFTs and make more revenue.
It should be noted that some soccer clubs, such as Liverpool, have dropped an NFT release and seen it fail massively. That’s an example of sports fans not being conned; there’s no intrinsic value to the Liverpool NFTs; they offered no tangible benefits nor gamification. In that instance, fans kicked back.
Conclusion
What can the gaming industry learn from sports fans? There’s an obvious lesson in the benefits a digital asset offers; a new product has to be that, something fresh. It should not be exploitative; it should not be bolted onto something that has already been noted as a cash cow, and crucially, where possible, there should be a real-life benefit. If gaming grasps that, perhaps the kickback on NFTs won’t be so strong in the future.
