Despite facing legal battles with competition and the ongoing cricketing season in the country, the skill-based gaming app MPL (Mobile Premier League) has entered the NFT, or the Non-Fungible Token, market. The newest venture, undertaken by the Virat Kohli-funded app, is in the name of Good Game Exchange (GGX).
According to Moneycontrol’s exclusive report, the NFT platform by MPL will enable users to trade NFTs through a collection of digitally-developed trading cards for players. The cards will form part of the online sports collectibles and the fantasy sports platform – Striker. Notably, Striker was founded by two of MPL’s ex-employees, viz. Krishna Mohan Vedula and Nitesh Jain, which took place in September 2022.
It is understood that the NFT industry in the country is facing ambiguity related to government and business-related regulations. The ongoing dispute between MPL and Rario, an NFT platform, is not unknown to the industry, wherein the latter had filed a complaint to the Delhi High Court against the former to activate the prevention of gaming platforms offering fantasy gaming through NFTs.
The digital token platform’s trading cards currently start from as low as INR 10 and go up to INR 2 Lakh, owing to the rarity of players upon whom the trading cards are based.
The platform’s components are much similar to the offerings provided by Striker, i.e., Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Striker. These components are decided per the player’s rarity; thus, the rarest player card shows the highest demand on the platform’s market.
The users on the platform will also be able to create their collection based on the types of players, their prices, countries, and tournaments they play. Since the cricketing season is ongoing with top-tier tournaments like the WPL, IPL, PSL, and LLC Masters, MPL might be better off catching higher user traction. And customer retention may be optimistic with ODI World Cup already scheduled to commence in October 2023.
Per the information on their official website, each GGX token is worth INR 400. Every time users spend INR 400 or more on the platform, they will be entitled to a token. The tokens will be an exclusive listing on GGX, according to the terms and conditions mentioned thereunder.
The ongoing legal battles
As positive as things may seem, there are more significant problems that MPL is already dealing with in the form of legal battles with Dream Sports Inc., which is also the parent company of popular gaming platform Dream11, basically a rival for Shubh Malhotra-led company.
It is also understood that the NFT industry in the country is facing ambiguity related to government and business-related regulations. The ongoing dispute between MPL and Rario, an NFT platform, is not unknown to the industry, wherein the latter had filed a complaint to the Delhi High Court against the former to activate the prevention of gaming platforms offering fantasy gaming through NFTs.
This petition has invited several members from the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) alongside WinZO, a social gaming platform, who have filed individual petitions to the Delhi HC to be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit.
In a statement to Moneycontrol, WinZO co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore said, “WinZO has intervened in the matter as Rario could expand the scope of the purported licenses received by them from some players to obtain a blanket order from the court restraining the operation of all similar formats operated by Dream11’s competitors. Any order passed on the question of law being adjudicated in the suit will have industry-wide ramifications.”