Sorare NFT has partnered with the Premier League in a multi-year licensing agreement for the soccer card game business.
Sore
Sorare, the $4.3 billion fantasy soccer game, has signed a multi-year deal with the Premier League, which will see the world’s top soccer league in the official licensed movies.
Players will be able to purchase and use official Premier League-licensed NFTs under an exclusive multi-year agreement.
The Paris-based Sorare startup, which has 3 million users worldwide, allows people to compete in five-a-side fantasy soccer games. The chances of success are based on the real turn of the players on the pitch.
Sorare is said to be launching two new lines in the game as well. These include the ability to compete with the league’s sports films and a “financial story” feature that prevents users from selecting from all-star teams.
Sorare is first reported to be in talks with the Premier League – England’s top-tier football league – over a licensing agreement in October. 2022. Sorare CEO Nicolas Iulia said things will take longer to wrap up than anticipated as he had in the Premier League. do an existing NFT license with another firm.
Sky News previously reported that the deal was worth 30 million. Julia declined to share specifics on the financial terms and the deal.
The report comes despite a sharp decline in NFT trading activity.
The value of NFTs – or non-fungible tokens – amid the rise in crypto prices known as “crypto winter”, has been exacerbated in recent months by the bankruptcy of the major exchange FTX.
According to CryptoSlam website data, the average selling price of NFT in December 2022 was $143.22, down 63% from $383.73 in December 2021.
Trading volumes are also significant. Overall NFT sales plunged 78% in December to $678.2 million from $3.1 billion a year ago.
Iulia Sorare said “it trended very differently from the rest of the space.” The total exchange of cards on the platform was at $500 million last year, almost doubling from $270 million in 2021.
However, the company has noted a change in practice with players to use their “free-to-play” mode, where they compete when they don’t have pro cards.
Some 87% of Sorare players “don’t make money at meetings,” Julia said.
Obviously, that raised a question about the sustainability of Sorari’s model: how does it make money when most of its users aren’t traders?
For her part, Julia said that using large resources to anchor income generation is enough. Sorare accepts an unspecified set of all transactions through its service.
It is worth noting that Sorare is the third-largest NFT collection worldwide, according to CryptoSlam data. CryptoSlam figures show solid processing of about $1 million in transactions in a 24-hour period.
The Supreme League association with Sorare adds to the slew of deals between sports leagues and crypto rosters.
Sorare himself has previously announced deals with Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
Some deals, like Crypto.com negotiating the naming rights to the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles and FTX sponsorship of the now-defunct Miami-Dade Arena, have soured amid plummeting crypto prices.
Julia said Sorare has recovered from the fallout from selling crypto-gaming to focus his firm on licensing intellectual property rather than sponsorships.
The French startup was last valued by investors at $4.3 billion in September 2021. Sorare is supported by the top names among Japan’s SoftBank and venture capital firms Accel and Benchmark. He also counts sports stars Lionel Messi, Serena Williams and Kylian Mbappe as partners.
Sorare is not without its controversies and has come under fire for accusations that it encourages gambling.
The UK Gambling Commission is investigating the firm “to determine whether Sorare.com requires an operating license or whether the services it provides do not constitute gambling,” according to an Oct. 8 report. 2021 notice.
Julia said she could not yet provide an update on the UK investigation process.
In November, the startup was committed to making some changes to the implementation of its platform accepted by the French National Gambling Authority. Including strengthening elements of free play. The company is required to protect this by March 31.
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