Electronic Arts and Nike Team Up to Integrate Virtual Creations into EA Sports Games

in one Blog-Post EA announces that NFTs from Nike’s “.Swoosh” collection will be integrated into EA sports games in the future. Specific games are not mentioned. However, it can be assumed that the NFTs will be integrated into this year’s “Madden NFL”, “NHL” and “EA Sports FC” (formerly “FIFA”) games. More information will follow in the coming months.

Nike already launched its Metaverse platform «.Swoosh» in November last year launched. Members of Nike’s Web3 community can buy, swap and design virtual items of clothing, such as sports shoes or jerseys. The company already announced the platform last year impliedthat the virtual objects could also be used in games in the future.

In the official communication the word “NFT” is never mentioned for cooperation. Instead, EA and Nike only speak of “virtual creations” that can be used in games.

No wonder, because in the past NFT experiments have been extremely poorly received by major publishers in the gaming community. Due to the negative reactions, the topic has been put on hold for most manufacturers and studios – at least for the time being. From the larger publishers only sting Square Enix, Konami and Ubisoft who stand behind their NFT and Metaverse projects despite ongoing criticism.

It is surprising that EA, of all people, is daring to tackle the subject. The publisher has already come under increasing criticism in the past due to controversial game mechanics in their sports games. In April, for example, the addictive loot boxes in “FIFA” games were brought before a court in Austria as illegal gambling classified.

EA itself hopes that the cooperation will enable players to personalize their virtual sports experience even more and network and compete even more closely with other sports fans. During the big NFT hype around two years ago, Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, already spoke positively about NFTs and affirmedthat «NFTs will play an important role in the future of the video game industry».

Cover image: EA Sports