This is perhaps not common knowledge to Token Gamer’s readers, but we’re heavily interested in esports. Dave and I, TG’s co-founders, have attended gaming tournaments and competitions for two decades, back when esports was 100 teenagers in a hall carrying beige towers and CRT monitors, chugging Lucazade between Counter-Strike 1.6 and Unreal Tournament games. In fact, Dave was even a professional at World of Warcraft, competing in cups.
This is one of our joint regrets, however, and it is one of the reasons for Token Gamer’s formation in a roundabout way. Despite being there as the first sprouts of esports emerged from the soil, we had no real involvement as it grew into the titan it is today, and we wished we had. That’s why when we spotted the potential of blockchain gaming and felt the same fizz of potential we had felt with esports, we weren’t about to let it slip away from us.
These two have obviously large overlap, and in fact, in my earliest preachings back in 2018 on why blockchain gaming will be important, I pointed out its role within esports and the rise of esports memorabilia. But, blockchain gaming has been slower out of the gates than I’d hoped and I expected esports to have to wait its turn, growing alongside gaming and limited by its height. Nevertheless, the foundations need to be built and this has not been missed by several organizations who are looking to put the work in early.
Yesports: ‘The World’s First Web 3.0 Engagement Platform for Esports’
Firstly, is it pronounced “Y eSports”, “Yesports”, or “Ye’ Sports”? I need clarity on this matter. Anyway, what is Yesports? It is an esports platform for Web3 that is not only already well-funded, but it is Polygon Studios-backed and partnered, and has already brought into the fold competitive gaming organizations such as Renegades and Team Empire.
When I say “well-funded” and “Polygon Studios-backed”, I mean that Yesports had a seed funding round that was apparently “oversubscribed”, populated with leading VCs. It’s easy to see why this is the case, with esports revenue at over $1 billion in 2021 and rising rapidly. Web3 represents an opportunity for teams, players, games, and fans to interact more comprehensively with the advent of NFTs and the metaverse.
Yesports is set to launch utility NFTs as well as the capability for teams to do the same, such as VIP access passes that allow entry to private Discords, and exclusive content and perks, similar to what we have done here at Token Gamer. These NFTs and others will be tradeable through Yesports’ own marketplace.
It’s early days for Yesports but it’s an organization we believe is worth keeping on your radar.
