EA Sports partners with Nike to bring NFT gear to games

It’s In The Game (But it doesn’t exist)

Another week, another tedious story of rich men jumping on a bandwagon just as the wheels fall off. Electronic Arts has announced that its EA Sports division is partnering with multi-million dollar clothing company Nike in a new endeavor that will bring blockchain elements to the former’s range of popular sports titles.

EA Sports will work in alignment with Nike Virtual Studios in order to bring the sportswear manufacturer’s new NFT range, known as “.Swoosh“, to the studio’s range of annual releases. One would assume this refers to titles such as EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA), Madden, and EA Sports PGA Tour. Details were not released on how the controversial blockchain technology would be incorporated into its video games, but the publisher noted that details will follow in the near future.

What’s In The Game? Only time will tell…@EASPORTS x .SWOOSH 🎮⚽️🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/AXgidKX7rd

— .SWOOSH (@dotSWOOSH) June 1, 2023

“In future EA Sports titles, EA Sports and Nike plan to make select .Swoosh virtual creations available allowing members and players unique new opportunities for self-expression and creativity through sport and style,” said EA in a statement. “Working with .Swoosh, we’ll bring creativity and self-expression to the forefront for fans as they connect, compete, and share their love for sport.”

Creativity.

Electronic Arts’ foray into blockchain comes at a time when multiple game publishers take a second swing at making the “Pretend Shit for Tons of Money” tech fly for the gaming community. This comes at a time when numerous studios, such as Ubisoft, Team17, Square Enix, and Sega have been brutally lambasted for attempting to marry gaming with the metaverse, and a full year after the NFT market has saw a huge drop in Google searches. This isn’t even to speak of the complete collapse of outlets such as FTX and the total money-wasting embarrassment of Meta.

Regardless, the drive continues to make the NFT/gaming synergy happen, with brow-furrowing, boneheaded suits still utterly bumfuzzled as to why this expensive, unsustainable market that they don’t understand and cannot control is simply not taking.