New MMA fighting game with NFT coming soon
A new strategic mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting game that uses NFT and developed by One Championship and Animoca Brands is planned in 2024. Below are all the details about it.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) joins the NFT for the first time.
As expected, Notre Gamean Animoca Brands company, makes a strategic mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting game for mobile devices with NFTs alongside Singapore’s MMA brand One Championship.
The launch of the game called ‘One Fight Arena‘ is currently slated for early 2024, with initial player testing to begin by the end of the year.
Specifically, in-game athletes will become NFTs to provide owners with verifiable authenticity and statistics about the rarity of their character.
One Fight Arena will also be released as a free-to-play mobile game for those who want to play the game completely free without symbolic elements in the mix.
In addition, the game will include the brand’s roster of various fighters and focus on “strategic gameplay” through a first-person point of view, according to the announcement.
Ultimately, One Fight Arena aims to simulate each fighter’s experience, from the beginning of their respective fighting careers.
Statements regarding the new MMA game with NFT
While not much else has been revealed about the One game, One Championship co-founder and group president Hua Fung Teh believes it is a way to offer MMA fans a completely innovative and immersive new experience.
In particular, in a memo, Teh stated the following:
“We are thrilled to be working with an industry leader in Animoca Brands to launch One Fight Arena, our first Web3-optimized video game. This partnership will give us the opportunity to engage with our global fan base on a deeper level.”
On the other hand, Animoca Brands CEO Yat Siu also shared a similar stance on why the game was developed with Web3 elements, stating:
“Our partnership with One to create One Fight Arena will give fans of the world’s largest martial arts organization access to a new gaming experience with a true digital property at its core.”
Additionally, it’s important to note that Animoca and One’s game comes as Asia is increasingly a favorite market and producer for Web3 games.
Not by chance, a DappRadar last month’s report said Asia could eventually dominate 80% of the entire Web3 games market, a sentiment picked up by other industry players in recent months.
DappRadar’s report on Asia and the Web3 market
As expected, players in Asia are expected to make up the vast majority of the Web3 gaming market, according to a DappRadar study conducted in collaboration with Japanese cryptocurrency company Pacific Meta.
Specifically, the study found that Asia already includes 55% of the global gaming population 1.7 billion players and will likely make up 80% of all Web3 players. The figure is remarkable, especially considering that e.g Chinaplayers under the age of 18 can only play games for one hour per day.
And in South Korea, blockchain gaming has been heavily scrutinized and virtually banned altogether.
Despite the legal restrictions, the above report claims that the video game publisher Nexon’s Web3 game with MapleStory Universe and Square Enix’s upcoming Web3 game, Symbiogenesisare two examples that suggest how crypto games are gaining ground in the East.
In addition, both will also use Polygonwhich the study says is currently the network of choice for Web3 games from a game studio’s perspective.
The study by DappRadar and Pacific Meta also concluded that the Asian market prefers more the role-playing genre such as e.g. Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star Online or Genshin Impact.
Therefore, the Asian market’s interest in Web3 games is significant. In fact, at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco held last month, Korean game publisher We made had one of the largest stalls.
Additionally, an on-site representative told Decrypt that WeMade plans to release its games in Korea without Web3 elements, then release them globally at a later date with NFTs and Web3 integrations through its WeMix platform.
