AC Milan Launch NFT Game – What Will NFTs and Crypto Bring to Gaming?

In September 2022, AC Milan announced a new partnership which takes advantage of gaming blockchain technology. This is not exactly a new concept when it comes to the crypto metaverse, although you wouldn’t be blamed for believing it is. Up until the 2020s, cryptocurrency was known primarily as a digital alternative to traditional finance –  a decentralised bank of sorts – which can allow users to trade and buy tokens entirely on their own steam. 

For the last few years, however, blockchain has been demonstrating a whole new branch of possibilities. In effect, it is a premature revelation of Web3, an entirely decentralised network which can be treated as a blank canvas for creators. This is where NFTs come into play. Recently, more and more businesses (including fashion and entertainment) have been utilising NFTs and creating a unique way to deliver entertainment. 

What Are NFTs?

Standing for “non-fungible token”, NFTs are digital assets which are entirely unique and unable to be replicated. As an example, if someone were to trade one Bitcoin for another, the trader would be left with the same valuable asset. This is because the price of Bitcoin is the same for all Bitcoin tokens. An NFT, however, is not a form of currency. Just as someone wouldn’t be able to swap a painting in the Villa Panza, no one can swap an NFT for exactly the same thing.

Speaking of art, this is how NFTs have predominantly taken shape. Utilised by artists to garner a larger audience and earn more of a return, NFTs can be anything from original art – to memes, to gifs, to videos and so on. While many individual artists have been taking advantage of this (the top 20% of NFT artists can earn at least £80,000 per annum in sales),  a lot of businesses have also been getting in on the action, with prominent brands such as Adidas, Gucci and Coca-Cola also having jumped into the NFT space over the last couple of years.

What Is the AC Milan Launch?

These brands now include AC Milan, who last month announced a partnership with MonkeyLeague, which is an AAA-quality Web3 esports gaming platform built on the Solana blockchain. Founded in 2021, MonkeyLeague is essentially the decentralised alternative to FIFA, a strategy-based football game in which users can build and manage their own sports team. This typically includes four MonkeyPlayer NFTs: a striker, a midfielder, a defender and a goalkeeper. The NFTs can be bought, sold and used to compete against other players, with an ultimate aim to climb the league ranks and win the season. The economy is based on the digital coin MBS (MonkeyBucks), meaning in-game assets have value both inside and outside of the game itself.

AC Milan have announced a partnership with MonkeyLeague, which involves them creating exclusive content for players. With MSB, users can earn a number of Rossoneri-branded assets, including avatars, skins, stadiums and special game tournaments. The first of these exclusives was auctioned on MagicEden, with each NFT going to the highest bidder and coming with a physical AC Milan jersey which was signed by the club.

What Does This Mean For Crypto Gaming?

Although this is a big step for MonkeyLeague, it is also a substantial moment for the entire crypto community. With more established sports clubs getting involved in the metaverse, the more the esport sector of blockchain is going to grow. A spokesperson for AC Milan, for instance, described the partnership as a way to strengthen their position in the field of digital innovation. Their aim is to give fans more access, more ownership and an even closer relationship with their favourite club. 

This is likely to garner the attention of other sports and entertainment brands, too. Earlier this year, all twenty Premier League clubs stated that they were exploring the possibility of launching NFTs, meaning they are already looking to integrate more sufficiently into the metaverse space. This will likely improve the gaming experience for the user, as each game will be play-tested by professional players and give them the possibility to earn prestigious NFTs.  

What Are The Benefits Of Crypto Gaming?

As mentioned previously, there is a mountain of possibilities when it comes to blockchain, but gaming is the sector which is the most exciting. For starters, developers can earn more with a crypto-based online game, meaning more tokens can be placed into creating entertaining and engaging games. For the users too, the experience eliminates the authority of bureaucracy and allows players to play games more quickly and efficiently, as intermediaries are eliminated from the process. Connectivity is also vastly improved, as users have the ability to game internationally without any security or exchange rate issues. 

As well as this, NFTs give users an opportunity to gain more from their assets, as cryptocurrencies eliminate the handling and exchange fees with peer-to-peer transactions. Blockchain technology also prevents illegal trades, hacking and the stealing of wallet keys with an immutable ledger. This helps players to feel safer and more secure, meaning they can focus on the gaming experience without the concern of foul play. 

The Future Of Online Gaming

With so many benefits to crypto gaming, it is likely that the entire online gaming landscape will change, especially when considering the rise of sports and entertainment brands getting on board. Right now, analytics show that 2.7 billion gamers spend $167.3 billion on online games, with an expectation that the market will surpass $200 billion next year. The development of blockchain technology, as well as clubs such as AC Milan utilising the NFT space, will likely shift these statistics into the cryptocurrency landscape. 

This is especially true when considering the number of games which can be created on the blockchain. Ethereum alone has the most crypto games compared to any other network, and with the price of Ethereum predicted to rise following the merge, it is likely that many more will be developed. The number of blockchain games overall doubled in 2021, with the number of daily wallets interacting with game-related smart contracts surging to 1.3 million (which was a 46-fold increase over the 28,000 wallets interacting with blockchain games in 2020). As the world moves closer to Web3, it is likely that the gaming world will shift from traditional online gaming to blockchain games pretty swiftly over the next decade.