Nike Virtual Studios and EA Sports Join Forces to Bring Customizable Virtual Apparel to Gaming Community. Nike Virtual Studios and EA Sports have announced an exciting collaboration that will allow gamers to don virtual Nike apparel in EA SPORTS games.
While the announcement did not explicitly mention web3 or NFTs, it is the underlying technology. The initiative is exclusively available to members of Nike’s web3 community, known as “.SWOOSH,” which was established in November last year for co-creating virtual shoes.
And that does it for the launch of the OF1 Collection. 🎉
Thank you to all of the 50K+ .SWOOSH members who participated.
We'll be back tomorrow with a recap of all things OF1.
Oh, and we have a special announcement coming at 8am PDT. 👀
Until tomorrow .SWOOSH fam 🫡
— .SWOOSH (@dotSWOOSH) June 1, 2023
Currently in beta, the membership has garnered significant interest, with 330,000 people signing up for free access.
This collaboration marks a major milestone in Nike’s web3 journey and opens up a realm of thrilling experiences for both the .SWOOSH community and the expansive EA SPORTS fan base.
Nike has been an early adopter of NFTs, acquiring NFT startup RTFKT in 2021. The partnership between Nike and RTFKT has resulted in successful launches such as theCryptoKicks NFT customizable sneaker collection and Cryptokicks IRL, which links virtual assets to real shoes. Notably, Nike has emerged as the leading brand in NFT sales, generating substantial direct revenue and secondary market resales, with $1.3 billion.
On the other hand, Electronic Arts (EA) has a less established relationship with NFTs. In 2021, 71% of EA’s revenues came from live services, and a notable 29% came from added value content in its Ultimate Team mode, where users can create personalized teams featuring current and former players. This mode aligns well with the concept of NFTs. Although EA began recruiting web3 staff in 2021, the reception among traditional gamers to NFTs has been mixed.
The collaboration between Nike Virtual Studios and EA Sports signifies a significant convergence of the gaming and fashion worlds, providing gamers with unprecedented opportunities for self-expression and customization.
As the metaverse continues to evolve, these partnerships demonstrate the potential for brands to engage with their audiences in innovative ways.
Brands seeing the potential of NFTs and the Metaverse
We recently wrote an article addressing the opportunities offered for fashion brands in the metaverse. Brands that have existing communities and want to create new channels of engagement are poised to take advantage of this newly connected virtual world and provide exciting experiences for their loyal buyers.
The physical and virtual worlds are continuing to merge when it comes to commercial opportunities for brands. Also, NFT and the metaverse are linking with more sustainable approaches for product development in the world of fashion.
Why limit yourself to physical products that only use natural resources when you can create limited-edition virtual sneakers that defy the laws of gravity and fashion sense? Brands are diving headfirst into these environments, using them as playgrounds to experiment with new products, loyalty programmes and ways to communicate with new markets.
