🔊 Down Goes Disney's Metaverse 📉

Welcome to The Hype Report where we break down the latest news, stories & insights around sports & web3.

Here's What You Need To Know This Week 📝

• Disney Lays Off Entire Metaverse Team

• Candy Digital Partners With MLB For Innovative Digital Collectibles Campaign

• Pranksy & Sorare Partner Up For “Pranksy Plays”

• Quick Hype & What To Watch + Read

Let's Dive Into It 🤿

Disney Lays Off Entire Metaverse Team 🏰

The most magical place in the world ain't looking so magical these days.

Just a year after getting it off the ground, Disney has let go of its entire metaverse division as a part of the ongoing restructuring, per The Washington Journal.

The team of 50 people, led by industry veteran Mike White, is gone, while White remains at the company in some capacity that is unknown at the moment.

Disney CEO Bob Iger said Monday that layoffs would begin this week, as they look to reduce the headcount by 7,000 over the next two months.

The metaverse division’s mission was to:

“create an entirely new paradigm for how audiences experience and engage with our stories.” 

Disney had plans to bring fantasy sports, theme park experiences, and more to the metaverse.

However, with no metaverse team left, the future of the company’s metaverse ambitions remains unclear.

In November, Bob Chapek, then CEO of Disney, had described the metaverse as “the next great storytelling frontier.”

While Iger has also been optimistic about the metaverse, Disney is under a ton of pressure from investors to cut costs and slow growth.

This has led them to reduce spending on its nonessential businesses.

Why Does This Matter?

Disney is one of the biggest sports and entertainment companies in the world.

Although many companies have high hopes for the metaverse - this is a telling sign of how long it might take for us to get there.

The fact of the matter is that these things take a ton of time and money to develop.

Money and time most companies don't have right now.

I'm optimistic that the metaverse will happen at scale at some point in time.

But setbacks like this are tough to see. This is something to keep an eye out for as other companies start to take a hit.

Candy Digital Partners With MLB For Innovative Digital Collectibles Campaign ⚾

A brand new MLB season is upon us and that means... new drops.

NFT platform Candy Digital is now offering its flagship player ICONs, video highlights, commemorative game tickets, and interactive challenges for fans to earn points and win prizes.

Candy Digital’s ICONs are dynamic digital collectibles featuring individual players from across the league.

The ICONs are available in limited edition packs and will be released on a regular cadence in themes that evolve with the MLB season.

The MLB Showstopper ICONs that spotlight 43 of the top stars of the game, were just released this past Wednesday.

CEO of Candy Digital Scott Lawin quoted:

"Digital collectibles are becoming more immersed in America’s most cherished pastime, and we’re excited to be leading the way with our partners."

Candy Digital will also leverage its access to current and historical MLB highlights to create exclusive packs throughout the season that celebrate top plays and historic moments from current stars as well as legends of the game.

Through the partnership with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, historical highlights will feature players such as:

• Ken Griffey Jr.

• Johnny Bench

• Tom Seaver

• George Brett

Candy Digital will also offer:

• Milestone Marks, which are a real-time product to celebrate the biggest achievements like no-hitters, first career hits, and record-breaking moments.

• Unique digital commemorative tickets for fans attending select games which allows them to collect their memories in a non-fungible way.

Why Does This Matter?

Candy Digital was only founded a few years ago but has faced a number of massive challenges.

The company laid off more than one-third of its approximately 100-person team in November 2021.

This past January, Fanatics sold its roughly 60% majority stake in the company.

Yet in the company's third season as an official MLB partner, things are still pushing forward.

Even though the market has been shaky, partners and specifically sports leagues are still seeing the potential in NFTs for collectors and fans.

That's a bright sign that they still believe in the long-term vision.

Pranksy & Sorare Partner Up For “Pranksy Plays” 🤝

Sorare adds another partnership under its belt.

This time it's with Pranksy, who is one of the most famous personalities in the NFT space.

In this partnership called “Pranksy Plays”, the collector invests in Sorare football cards and will invite his community to participate in private leagues.

What else does this partnership involve?

Players can join two different private leagues.

One league will require only free-to-play cards, whereas, in the other, only Super Rare or Unique cards are eligible.

There will be prizes for the winners, including:

• NFTs from the Pranksy vault

• VIP Premier League tickets

• Sorare merchandise

Who is Pranksy?

Pranksy is very well-known in the NFT space.

He’s an influencer and project creator. His real identity is still a secret, but his journey has been well documented.

He got his start by investing in Cryptokitties in 2017.

Supposedly he turned $600 into $30,000 dollars.

But he gained massive attention with his success as an NBA Topshot collector, recording almost $7 million profit.

Pranksy’s wallet net worth dropped with the bear market, but his collection is still super impressive.

This Tuesday, DappRadar estimated its total value at over $6 million, including over $4 million in NFTs.

For example, he owns over 40 Doodles for a total value of $445,000.

With more than 437,000 followers on Twitter, Pranksy has a huge impact on the NFT market and collectors alike.

How does this benefit both sides?

This partnership can create a great opportunity for both parties.

Given the influence that Pranksy has over collectors, I'm guessing Sorare's goal is to attract people from his community to their platform.

In return, Pranksy can not only reach sports fans that aren't as familiar with NFTs, but he could also simply generate more awareness which can present a number of opportunities down the road.

As you probably know by now, Sorare is the most popular fantasy sports game on the blockchain.

They have more than 3 million subscribers and around 200,000 daily active players worldwide.

Partnering with notable NFT collectors and influencers is incredibly smart for them as it helps them gain access to new communities and audiences they wouldn't have otherwise been able to reach.

Quick Hype 🎯

Sports Technology Market by Technology, Sport and End User - Global Forecast to 2022-2027. The growth of the sports technology market can be attributed to increasing focus on delighting and engaging fans at stadiums, growing pressure to improve player and team performance, and surging adoption of esports technology.

What Are Sports NFTs, and What Are the 5 Most Popular Sports NFT Projects? Although it may not have seemed like the most seamless partnership in the Web3 landscape, NFTs and sports are proving to be a match made in heaven.

According to Drake Star Partners’ Global Sports Tech Report for 2022, the global sports technology market generated over $90 billion in disclosed deal value from more than 1,000 partnerships last year.

Huupe, a ‘smart’ basketball hoop startup, raises its game with an $11M investment from Protagonist VC, Marvan Ventures, TRI Investments, and Kawn VC. Genesis Ventures and Reform Ventures (NBA player Thaddeus Young’s venture fund) also participated.

Crypto exchange Kraken has signed a sponsorship deal with the Williams Formula One team in another sign of a thaw in the crypto winter.

What To Watch 👀

Artificial Intelligence in the sports market is projected to reach a value of over $19 billion by 2030.

Check out this video about how this technology is going to transform the sports industry and help athletes improve their game performances.

What To Read 📖

Omar Wilkes is a legend in the sports world.

The former agent, who worked with Klutch Sports and Octagon, previously represented Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards.

Most recently he started working with sports memorabilia giant, Fanatics, as the Head of Athlete Relations.

In this interview with Boardroom, he discusses why he made the move to Fanatics, what he's hoping to achieve, and some of his thoughts on NFTs and digital collectibles.

Thanks for reading today!

Talk again next week,

Malcolm

This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not financial or business advice in any capacity. The information shared is my thoughts & opinions and does not represent the opinions of any other person, business, entity, or sponsor.

The contents of this newsletter also should not be used in any public or private domain without the author's express permission. The contents of this newsletter should not be used for any commercial activity, for example, research report, consultancy activity, or paywalled article, without the author's express permission.