NFL Rivals Crypto Game Hits 3 Million Players as Revenue Surges – Adoption on the Rise?

f8lfcu-xiaaoepu-2 — Source: NFL Rivals / Twitter

Popular blockchain-based game NFL Rivals is nearing 3 million signups, just four months after reaching the 1 million milestone.

“We’re closing in on 3 million [new players],” John Linden told The Block.

Linden is an industry veteran and the CEO of Mythical Games, the gaming studio behind NFL Rivals, Blankos Block Party, Nitro Nation World Tour, the Mythical Chain, and Mythical Marketplace.

Commenting on the new milestone, NFL Rivals tweeted on Tuesday:

“That’s a loooooot of touchdowns”

In June, the game saw over a million downloads, two months after its launch on Google Play and Apple Store on April 26.

Then, in September, it had over 2 million players.

And this number is expected to rise: there are more than 20,000 new players downloading the game each day, the CEO was quoted as saying

Linden said that, since the launch in August, NFL Rivals has generated “millions of dollars” in revenue.

Google & Apple-Approved

There have been several important factors that have contributed to the game’s rising popularity.

Apple and Google approved the game’s in-game marketplace, allowing players to trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The in-game NFT marketplace will be rolled out in three phases. The second phase, currently in works, will allow players to sell assets through a “credit system.”

The CEO added that Google’s and Apple’s decision has been “huge,” telling The Block that,

“We’ve seen a nearly 50% increase in transaction volume.”

Another factor is the start of the NFL season. The company has seen daily active users (DAUs), monthly active users (MAUs), and the revenue per player all go up.

There is also the “brand recognition” factor: Mythical Games’ partners include the NFL, the NFL’s Players Association, the Miami Dolphins, and the recently announced Amazon Prime Gaming.

Also, Mythical Games migrated from Ethereum to Polkadot, citing scalability as a reason. The migration was first announced in April.

🗣️Mythical Games CEO John Linden on the move to Polkadot:

“The decision to leave the Ethereum ecosystem stems from a combination of issues surrounding slow transaction speeds, even with L2 roll-ups, that would ultimately hinder our scaling plans with our new games this year.”

— Polkadot (@Polkadot) September 11, 2023

Lastly, valued at $1.25 billion in 2021 after raising $150 million, Mythical Games is backed by major players in the industry.

In June this year, it secured $37 million in a funding round led by Scytale Digital, with participation from ARK Invest, Animoca Brands, PROOF, Stanford Athletics, MoonPay, Andreessen Horowitz, Gaingels, Signum Growth, Struck Capital, and WestCap.

The company aims to raise another $38 million, Linden said.

However, according to the financial data and software company PitchBook, Linden told employees that the first close of the round was about half of what Mythical had aimed to raise.

It cut the company’s valuation by 20% and put its pre-money valuation at $965 million.

The company cut 15% of its staff in three waves of layoffs since November, a company spokesperson told PitchBook – but it was related to “right-sizing the business,” not fundraising, the person claimed.