The Sorare NFT Soccer Trading Card Game has partnered with the Premier League on a multi-year licensing agreement.
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Sorare, the $4.3 billion fantasy soccer game, has signed a multi-year deal with the Premier League that will see the world’s top soccer leagues license official player cards.
Game players will be able to purchase and use official Premier League-licensed NFTs under an exclusive multi-year agreement.
Paris-based startup Sorare, which has 3 million users worldwide, lets people compete in fantasy football games of five a side. The chances of success are based on the real-time performance of the players on the pitch.
Sorare said it is also launching two new features in the game. These include the ability to compete with league-specific player cards and a “financial fair play” feature that prevents users from selecting All-Star teams.
Sorare were first rumored to be in talks with the Premier League – the top tier of England’s men’s football league – about a licensing deal in October 2022. Existing NFT licensing deal with another firm.
sky News informed earlier The deal was worth 30 million pounds. Julia declined to share details about the financial terms and duration of the deal.
The news comes despite a sharp decline in NFT trading activity.
The value of NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – has plummeted amid the collapse in crypto prices, known as “crypto winter”, which has intensified in recent months. Bankruptcy of the major exchange FTX.
According to data site CryptoSlam, the average selling price of NFTs in December 2022 was $143.22, down 63% from $383.73 in December 2021.
The trading volume is also very low. Total NFT sales fell 78% in December to $678.2 million from $3.1 billion a year earlier.
Julia said that Sorare “tends to be very different from the rest of the places.” Last year, cards on the platform totaled $500 million, nearly doubling to $270 million in 2021.
Nevertheless, the company has seen a shift in its use, with players more willing to use its “free-to-play” mode where they do not have to compete with paid-for cards.
Some 87% of Sorare’s players “don’t even spend a dime” on the platform, Julia said.
An obvious question has been raised about the sustainability of Sorare’s model: how does it make money when most of its users are not transacting?
For its part, Julia said power users with large spending were sufficient for income generation. Sorare takes an unspecified cut of all transactions through its service.
It is worth noting that Sorare is the third largest NFT archive worldwide according to CryptoSlam data. Figures from CryptoSlam show that the firm processes roughly $1 million worth of transactions in a 24-hour period.
The Premier League’s partnership with Sorare adds to a number of deals between sports leagues and crypto platforms.
Sorare has already announced deals with Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
Some agreements, such as Crypto.com’s deal for the naming rights to the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles and FTX’s now-defunct sponsorship of the Miami-Dade Arena, have turned sour amid a plunge in crypto prices.
Julia said that Sorare was spared the fallout over crypto-focused sports advertising because her firm focuses on the licensing of intellectual property rather than sponsorship.
The French startup was valued at $4.3 billion by investors in September 2021. Sorare is endorsed by top names including Japan. softbank and venture capital firms Accel and Benchmark. It also counts sports stars Lionel Messi, Serena Williams and Kylian Mbappe as shareholders.
Sorare has not been without its controversy and has been dogged by allegations that it encourages gambling.
As of October 8, 2021 the UK Gambling Commission is investigating the firm “to establish whether Sorare.com requires an operating license or whether the services it provides do not constitute gambling”. notice,
Julia said she was unable to provide an update on the process of the UK investigation at this time.
In November, the startup committed to making some changes to its platform following a crackdown by the French National Gambling Authority. They included strengthening the free-to-play elements of the game. The company needs to implement these measures by March 31.
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