The world’s largest manufacturer of shoes and clothing, Nike, has hinted that it may soon release a range of sneakers’ nonfungible tokens (NFTs) in Fortnite, the hugely popular online game from Epic Games.Given that Fortnite has had more than 242.9 million active players over the previous 30 days, according to Active Player, the move would represent a potentially enormous opportunity for Web3 adoption by traditional gamers.
Nike announced on its social media platforms on June 16 that the “ultimate Sneakerhunt begins” on June 20.The Fortnite and Nike Air Max insignia are prominently shown in the short accompanying film against a background of soaring clouds.The name of the sneaker search, “Airphoria,” is then revealed in the transition, and the video ends with Nike’s Web3 platform logo.Swoosh and the Unreal Engine logo from Epic Games.
The NFT community has theorized that Nike may have created an NFT-related game using Fornite Creative 2.0, which allows users to construct their own virtual island game maps using Fortnite materials, despite the lack of information at this time.I recall that Fortnite just released Fortnite Creative 2.0, which offers a robust self-built map option akin to making games on ROBLOX. I suppose Nike may have developed a game using this method.Although Nike also developed a game for ROBLOX two years ago, it did not incorporate NFT[s] at the time, as one Twitter user pointed out.NFTs may be a part of Airphoria, but that has not yet been proven.Swoosh’s involvement would indicate that it is planned, and Epic Games also has a stake in it.
Recently, Nike’s NFT division has increased its efforts to make inroads into the traditional gaming market.On June 1, Swoosh announced that its NFTs would be included in games created by EA Sports, the studio behind, among other things, the wildly popular Fifa soccer game genre.Which EA Sports titles will eventually have Nike NFTs is yet unknown, though.