UPDATE 06/06/23: EA has insisted that it will not offer NFT despite having signed an agreement with Nike to add “virtual creations” created by a company that works with the blockchain.
In a statement sent to IGN, EA said it was simply considering including Nike’s .SWOOSH “digital items” in EA Sports games with “single player convenience”.
An EA spokesperson said: “EA Sports does not offer NFT. “We’re partnering with Nike to look at how we can bring their unique .SWOOSH digital merchandise to future EA Sports experiences with a unique player utility.”
ORIGINAL STORY 04/06/23: EA Sports and Nike Virtual Studios have announced a new partnership that will seek to add Nike’s .SWOOSH virtual creations or NFTs to future EA Sports games.
EA announced the news in a Blogs, Nike’s new partnership with EA SPORTS will seek to build new immersive experiences and unlock entirely new levels of customization within the EA SPORTS ecosystem. The exact details of how this will manifest in future games are still unclear, but a short Twitter video from .SWOOSH gives a glimpse of what fans can expect.
What’s in the game? Only time will tell…@ELECTRONIC SPORTS x.SWOOSH ️🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/AXgidKX7rd
— .SWOOSH (@dotSWOOSH) June 1, 2023
.SWOOSH used the Polygon blockchain to secure Nike virtual creations, and the example in the video above shows a black football helmet with the Nike logo and purple visor. The helmet appears on a digital tag indicating when it was purchased and the unique ID the “virtual creature” has.
This means that the item is unique and tied to a specific person and could theoretically be used in a future Madden game. The video also features branded balls along with three different balls, which seems to suggest this could very well integrate with EA Sports FC, the soccer game formerly known as FIFA.
NFT, blockchain, and Web 3 have all been controversial in the gaming space and beyond, and many companies withdrew their support after they faced criticism for doing so. . Some studios even signed an anti-NFT pledge last year that encourages developers to only implement NFTs if they don’t cause significant damage to the environment, which these artefacts do due to the huge amount of computing power and energy required to make them what they are .
EA has also spoken about NFT in the past, with EA CEO Andrew Wilson saying he believes the NFT will be a “major part of the future of the game.” However, the company said a year later that “don’t drive hard” in the direction of the NFT.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and more Convulsion.
