Animoca Brands subsidiary Notre Game and combat sports promotion One Championship are partnering for a new Web3 mobile game, One Fight Arena.
Developed in collaboration with Notre Game, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands that specialises in Web3 games, the title will allow players to collect and trade digital collectibles of notable real-life fighters from the One Championship (also known simply as ONE) promotion. One Championship is a combat sports promotion from Singapore that runs events featuring MMA, kickboxing and Muay Thai among other martial arts. The game is planned for launch in Q1 2024, with player testing in Q4 2023.
Co-Founder and Group President of ONE Hua Fung Teh, commented, “We’re thrilled to work with an industry leader in Animoca Brands to launch ONE Fight Arena, our first Web3-enhanced video game. This partnership will give us the opportunity to engage with our global fan base at a deeper level through a unique gaming experience.”
Co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands Yat siu meanwhile said, “Our partnership with ONE to create ONE Fight Arena will enable the fans of the world’s largest martial arts organisation to access a novel gaming experience with true digital ownership at its core. We look forward to assisting ONE to more closely connect with its fans in deep and meaningful ways.”
One on Web3
We also recently saw another sporting organisation, the NFL in America, work with Mythic Games to create their own blockchain and Web3-based mobile game NFL Rivals. Both games feature digital collectible aspects, however they deal with very different sports and – they’ll hope – different audiences. Animoca themselves have bet heavily on blockchain technology and its integration into games, pursuing the first big breakout title for the technology.
The increased focus on sports for blockchain is potentially a massmarket route to success. Other series such as FIFA have also pursued digital collectibles well before blockchain took the notion to the next level. With millions of sports fans keen to take their sports experience further, blockchain games could find a new, receptive audience.