Nike NFTs on Fortnite

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This week we are covering…

👟 Nike’s .Swoosh comes to Fortnite

🎶 Warner Music enters web3 gaming

💡 New hardware concepts, releases enhance metaverse games

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Nike’s .Swoosh comes to Fortnite [Link]

A new official teaser from Nike hints at Fornite as its next gaming move.

While the sports giant has previously partnered with the online battle royale shooter - currently with 243M+ players - on digital apparel, its “Airphoria” event teaser coming out on Twitter shows a logo for its .Swoosh NFT platform along with the logo for Fortnite creator Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.

Details remain scant, yet the teaser suggests the collaboration will involve the Air Max shoes and .Swoosh, which previously launched a mint for “Our Force 1” digital sneakers as tradeable NFTs, and will tie into Fortnite and likely the broader Unreal Engine environment.

Why this is a lucrative move:

• Nike believes in NFTs, given its other partnerships that include one with gaming giant EA Sports to implement apparel and accessory NFTs in future games.

• Fortnite has produced billions of dollars’ worth of revenue from selling digital items across a wealth of entertainment, fashion, and other gaming brands, including character and weapon “skins” enabling players to customize their looks.

The intersection of gaming and sports appears to be more promising than ever, with Mythical Games’ NFL Rivals, launched worldwide in early access over a month ago, now closing in on a million downloads on the Apple and Google mobile stores.

Warner Music enters web3 gaming [Link]

Warner Music Group makes sweet music in the gaming space with the looming release of Invector: Rhythm Galaxy, a narrative-driven rhythm game it co-developed with Swedish game studio Hello There Games.

True to its legacy business, WMG will incorporate “the beat of chart-topping hits” from some of its artists - including Charlie Puth, PinkPantheress, and Duran Duran - into the game to be launched on July 14 and will be made initially available on PC.

Warner Music is on a roll: It previously launched Rhythm City, touted as “a first-of-its-kind music-themed social roleplay experience” on Roblox (in which it invested in 2020), and teamed up with STYNGR, a platform for pre-cleared music for games and the metaverse, to supply game developers with access to pre-licensed tracks from its music catalog.

It also has diverse tie-ups with metaverse companies such as OpenSea, The Sandbox, and gaming developer Splinterlands, harnessing connections for select artists and their fandoms.

Euro startup Versed taps generative AI for game creation [Link]

In the continuing progress of generative AI in the web3 game creation and storytelling space, European startup Versed seeks to help create role-playing games - and in turn immersive worlds - simply via text-based stories and instructions made possible by AI.

Versed was founded just four months earlier out of the Netherlands and successfully raised $1.7M (€1.6M) in a pre-seed round led by Google’s Gradient Ventures.

What this news proves: Generative AI continues to make inroads into web3 and metaverse gaming, from Roblox rolling out new tools for game developers to produce virtual worlds through natural language prompts to SF-based Scenario raising $6M in seed funding to generate original visual assets via the new tech.

New hardware concepts, releases enhance metaverse games [Link]

Tech giants seem to waste no time producing hardware for metaverse gaming with much buzz and potential.

On the heels of the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro headset is a concept for an accompanying controller, called the Apple Vision Joystick Pro Max, promised to maximize the experience of modern gaming.

The controllers have a touch-sensitive surface, trigger button, and crown, which can be mapped to certain functions. The metal finish of the controllers would perfectly complement the Apple VR headset.

Meanwhile, Samsung globally unveils the Odyssey OLED G9 gaming monitor (G95SC model), an advanced AI upscaling tech-powered monitor said to set a new standard for OLED gaming and provide an immersive and cutting-edge gaming experience.

Key highlights of Odyssey OLED G9:

• World's 1st OLED monitor to offer Dual Quad High Definition (DQHD; 5,120 x 1,440) resolution with a 32:9 ratio, with a 49-inch size and 1800R curvature

• Coupled with a rapid 0.03ms response time and a 240Hz refresh rate which allows gamers to gain a competitive edge

• Incorporates the Neo Quantum Processor Pro which intelligently analyzes images, adjusting brightness and contrast for each pixel

South Korea’s Krafton announces AI game subsidiary [Link]

South Korea's leading game developer Krafton announces the establishment of a new independent studio called ReLU Games, expanding its ventures in the gaming industry.

ReLU Games' inaugural project, FOONDA: AI Puzzle, gets users on various puzzle stages using deep learning algorithms. The mobile version of FOONDA is scheduled for release in Q3 2023.

Kim Min-jeong, previously in charge of Krafton's Special Project 2, has been appointed as the CEO of ReLU Games. Under her leadership, the studio will build on the success of Krafton's in-house incubation program and focus on combining deep learning tech with the joy of gaming.

🏃‍♂️Quick Hits

• Harnessing its huge developer base for industry-standard GPU hardware and software apps, Nvidia unveils the Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) for game development. (Link)

• NFT-based gaming ushers in the gamification of trading, changing things up in web3. (Link)

• As healthcare providers and parents continue to fight growing video game addiction among kids, the next big threat is already here in the form of AR/VR games, multi-gaming platforms, and e-sports competitions. (Link)

• On Twitch, wacky indie game Only Up is loaded With Goblintown NFT art. (Link)

• Japanese company Thirdverse touts its F2P X8 VR multiplayer hero shooter and uses virtual reality games as part of its path to the metaverse. (Link)

• Microsoft confirms it’s no longer actively developing 1st-party games for the Xbox One. (Link)

• Offchain Labs is building Xai as a Layer 3 blockchain platform for games. (Link)

• Will the Astar 2.0 Vision succeed in delivering web3 mass adoption to billions of users? (Link)

• Microsoft bets on cloud gaming with Xbox’s Starfield, an action RPG launching in September. (Link)

• With 60% of the region’s population as gaming enthusiasts, the Middle East emerges as a gaming powerhouse with a multibillion-dollar investment in the sector. (Link)

• Discover Moonland metaverse filled with NFTs, exploration, and engaging in epic large-scale battles. (Link)

• This year, Roblox stock rises up to 37% amid a bullish outlook on its evolution into immersive gaming and metaverse potential. (Link)

• BinaryX ventures into VR and artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC), developing a new GameFi genre of AI-based VR games. (Link)

• Let’s talk technical: Spatial partitioning isn’t the answer to scaling the metaverse. (Link)

• The top 10 programming languages for metaverse game development. (Link)

• Upland Metaverse’s Nowhere is a virtual gathering platform combining video chat and game play. (Link)

• Minecraft’s ban on NFTs, creating a stir in the web3 community, is looming ahead. (Link)

• In a push for AI safety, the Indian government will regulate online gaming and ban betting. (Link)

• Capcom announces new titles including a new collection of remastered Ace Attorney games and a mobile Mega-Man X game. (Link)

• 3D gaming metaverse NAKAVERSE 2.0 kicks off in Q1 of 2024. (Link)

💸 Funding & Partnerships

• SG’s Decentralised Gaming Ventures secures a 7-figure investment from a Korean venture fund. (Link)

• BinaryX and AiGC Labs launch the first AI-powered VR game on the metaverse. (Link)

• The Sandbox and Forkast Labs collaborate for enhanced metaverse valuation. (Link)

• Infrastructure startup Thirdweb appoints ex-Facebook exec Atif Khan as its new VP of Gaming to accelerate its web3 gaming growth. (Link)

All content on this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not aim to serve as or replace expert investment advice.

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If you are a startup building in the metaverse / web3 ecosystem and are raising capital, please reach out to Sfermion. Sfermion is an investment firm focused on accelerating the emergence of the metaverse.

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