Mobile Premier League launches its NFT marketplace GGX

The Mobile Premier League’s NFT marketplace launch comes amid a busy cricket season in the country and a legal dispute with a rival.

Esports and skill gaming app Mobile Premier League (MPL) has launched its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Good Game Exchange (GGX), even as the digital asset industry faces a daunting business environment due to the ongoing crypto winter and regulatory uncertainties.

The launch comes amid a busy cricket season in the country, which includes the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) tournament and the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, as well as a legal dispute with a start-up backed by one of the MPL’s major rivals, Drømmesport .

GGX will allow people to buy, sell and trade NFTs. At the time of writing, the platform offers a collection of digital player cards sourced from online sports collectibles and fantasy sports platform Striker. MPL had backed Striker, a venture started by two of its employees, Krishna Mohan Vedula and Nitesh Jain, Money control had reported in September 2022.

These trading cards can be filtered based on player, player type, price, country and tournaments like WPL and India and Pakistan domestic T20 leagues. The cards can also be filtered based on rarity, similar to what Striker currently offers (Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary and Striker).

Users can also sort these cards based on price or browse player cards for current or upcoming local and international cricket matches. Currently, it offers player cards priced between Rs 10 and Rs 2 lakh, depending on their rarity.

Each entry indicates the number of player cards for sale and the total collection, as these cards are limited in number. It also indicates recent trading activity, including who created (embossed) the card, transferred it and traded it to others. However, it does not allow users to purchase these cards on GGX yet.

The platform will enable users to trade Good Game Token (GGT), which is an in-game utility token issued by GGX. Every time a player trades on the platform worth Rs 400, they will receive a single GGT token, according to the website. The GGX token will not be available or listed on any platform outside of the game or other associated games, the company notes in its terms and conditions.

People familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol that GGX plans to offer digital assets from more games on its platform in the future. MPL also has its own team working with GGX, in the same way it runs the game studio Mayhem Studios that was announced last year.

What is particularly notable is that these cards use player caricatures instead of their images. Moneycontrol previously reported that Striker is working with a community of artists across the country to create digital art collectibles. In addition to the remuneration the artists receive for their creations, they also receive a commission on every card purchase and sale.

Users can create teams using the player cards they own and earn points based on the real-world performances of those players, competing in a variety of fantasy contests. MPL declined to comment on this development.

The legal dispute

In February 2023, Dream Sports-backed cricket NFT platform Rario filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against MPL and Striker to prevent them from offering fantasy games via NFTs.

Rario has alleged that Striker’s player caricatures and identifiers, such as player names and surnames, infringe the personality rights it has exclusively licensed from certain cricketers, such as Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik, to offer their digital player cards on the platform.

In its petition, Rario claims that it has spent Rs 148 crore to procure these licenses from nearly 170 players in the last two years. Indian cricketers like Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Mavi and Umran Malik have also joined Rario’s petition.

It is worth noting that Rario also has a cricket strategy game called D3 which was developed in collaboration with Dream Sports. The game allows Rario users to form three-member teams with the player cards they own and participate in competitions during live matches to earn cash rewards, according to the company’s website.

Meanwhile, skill gaming industry body All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and social gaming and interactive entertainment platform WinZO have filed separate petitions in the Delhi High Court seeking leave to intervene in the suit.

In its petition, the AIGF said the case has “wide-ranging implications across the gaming industry” and “not being able to use specific identifiers for players would have a drastic impact on fantasy sports platforms” and “could affect the growth of smaller companies”, according to an IANS -report.

Meanwhile, WinZO states in its petition that Rario could use the court order to stifle its rivals operating similar formats in the space.

“WinZO has intervened in the case as Rario could expand the scope of the alleged licenses they received from some players to obtain a general order from the court restricting the operation of all similar formats operated by Dream11’s competitors. Any order passed on the question of law which being convicted in the lawsuit will have industry-wide ramifications, Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder at WinZO games said in a statement to Money control.