Loco will create eSports and streaming experiences on the Avalanche blockchain

Indian game streaming platform Loco has teamed up with the Avalanche blockchain to create new types of fan experiences.

Loco joins the Avalanche Multiverse incentive program and launches a subnet that expands Avalanche’s growing footprint in Asia.

Loco is building a suite of Web3 products that will provide fan experiences via the custom Avalanche subnet.

oco recently raised $42 million, which was the largest Series A round in Indian and Southeast Asian gaming history. The platform has also collaborated with other game publishers such as Krafton, Activision Blizzard and Riot Games.

Loco’s Avalanche sub-network and ongoing product campaign marks another new chapter in the story of Avalanche, which is rapidly expanding in Asia. Recently, Chinese tech giant Alibaba and Japanese gaming pioneer Gree announced Avalanche initiatives.

Like Gree, Loco will run its own Avalanche validators, reflecting a deep commitment to securing and building the network.

Loco targets collectibles and fantasy sports

The fantasy sports industry generated over $22.7 billion in revenue in 2022 – a figure projected to grow to $48 billion by 2028. Digital collectibles are the fastest growing sector of the $400 billion global collectibles industry. Despite this explosive growth, fantasy applications have largely failed to seize the Web3 opportunity.

Loco’s first products will be designed to return control to the user, bringing collectibles to the fantasy gaming experience. The Web3 initiatives will allow fans to express their fandom and put them in the role of talent managers and scouts, helping them leverage their knowledge and add an exciting new layer to the viewing experience.

Viewers watching their favorite creators can now engage directly by building the best entertainment program or eSports team and compete with other fans in fantasy games on these platforms. These collectibles will be unique, scarce and will have publicly verifiable ownership.

Why Loco chose Avalanche

The Avalanche subnet allows Loco to tailor the capabilities of a custom blockchain to its apps and scale to a user base with a large number of customers, while keeping network fees and transaction latency low.

“We are excited to begin 2023 with this partnership with Ava Labs,” Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh, co-founders of Loco, said in a statement. “We align with Avalanche in our vision to bring fun games to millions of users. These skill-based games will allow fans to deepen their connection with their favorite creators and help amplify the enjoyment they get from watching digital content. Our endeavor is to provide users reliable and secure platforms to store, buy and sell digital assets, while ensuring the user experience is simple yet fun.”

With the recent Avalanche upgrade to Avalanche Warp Messaging (AWM), Loco’s users will also be able to freely trade Loco Legends collectibles with other assets on Avalanche. In addition, Loco will receive support from Ava Labs through the Multiverse Incentive Program, which will help launch its collectibles marketplaces.

“Web3 gaming is a fantastic use case for Avalanche Subnets as the only solution capable of consistently handling heavy traffic without causing the user experience to suffer in the form of long wait times or high fees,” said John Wu, president of Ava Labs , in a statement. “Pioneers like Loco are breaking new ground with ways to use digital collectibles for both fan engagement and applications layered on top that weren’t possible before.”

Avalanche bills itself as the fastest, most reliable smart contract platform in the world. It allows companies to deploy on the Ethereum Virtual Machine or use their own custom solution.

Loco has partnered with Krafton, Activision, Ubisoft, Riot Games, Red Bull, NBA 2K League and Logitech G. It is available on Android, iOS and the web.