Fan Tokens, which are more akin to cryptocurrencies, are often bought in return for voting rights, like crypto shares in a club or team. While NFTs are digital assets stored on a blockchain that can be digital artworks, collectibles, music or almost anything else capable of being stored on a digital ledger.
Kovac’s counterpart on the other side of the debate, Coingaming Group founder and Yolo Investments general partner Tim Heath, however, warned that NFTs’ value could be undermined by the fact that they still lack utility.
“My fundamental issue with this is what do you actually do with them?”, Heath said. “I believe NFTs will come into a space when it’s got utility, when it can be used to track a lineage, when it can be used to do something useful, that enables something else to happen.”
However, Heath pointed to the popularity of CS:GO Cases, within the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive video game, which enable players to buy skins for guns, and other in-play assets.
“That, in essence is an NFT”, he said. “I think it’s a centralised skin. But if that could move to a decentralised platform, such as NFT, you’ve got a whole secondary marketplace there, which will increase the adoption of the usability and the entertainment factor from that gaming venture. So I think it’s a net positive for the gaming industry.”
Both Kovac and Heath had their own tips where to begin exploring the NFT phenomenon, one of which was horse-racing game Zed Run, in which players buy NFT horses to run virtual races. While NBA Top Shots takes a collectibles angle on NFTs, enabling NBA fans to buy and collect memorable moments from games.Kovac urged the industry to explore NFTs and figure out the use cases for igaming. “Be curious, go out there and explore. It’s a very new technology. And what’s important isn’t the technology, it’s what you can do with it”, he said.
He added that, in common with all blockchain related technology, NFTs “require a bit of a different mindset” but because it’s so new the opportunity to do something unique with it is there for the taking.
Likewise, Heath concluded: “Be curious, be ahead of the curve. So, when the opportunity knocks at the door, you have your plan ready on how you want to bring it into your world, whether that be gaming, whether that be horse racing syndicates, whether it be paintings, crypto punks, be a part of it and be ahead of the curve always.”
