On Wednesday, Drone Racing League (DRL) stated they’ve partnered with Playground Labs—courtesy of Algorand—to create a “play-to-earn” drone game in the Metaverse.
While the details of the drone game are still vague, a DRL representative hinted they’ll look into their community for proposals for a style of gaming they’d desire most.
The league also revealed that “players will race [digital] DRL drones” for non-fungible tokens (or NFTs) and cryptocurrency on the Algorand blockchain.
Play-to-earn (a subsector of cryptocurrency) awards gamers with digital coins, which go beyond the confines of a particular title.
Involving Algorand is in line with the league’s hybrid competition, which includes virtual e-sports matches and real-life drone races.
To make the competitive racing games possible, DRL signed a five-year, $100 million deal with the Algorand blockchain platform—its largest sponsorship deal to date.
Introduction of sports betting
Since the competitive drone racing game is the first “air sport”, DRL will be introducing sports betting to the platform for fans to bet on—also to stay ahead of the times.
In an interview, the league’s president Rachel Jacobson stated that they’re “building a road map for so many different things in the next several years”.
Jacobson further continued, saying they’re familiarizing with the “[Algorand] blockchain because we always want to be 10 steps ahead and fast to market. We’re going to be Playground Labs’ crown jewel”.
Algorand to sponsor a championship event
According to the Drone Racing League, Algorand blockchain will sponsor a World Championship event held in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena. The event will have festivities among them performances from American rock staple Weezer.
The Playground Labs is affiliated with the Hivemind Capital Partners—which powers the cryptocurrency economy and announced a $1.5 billion fund last year meant to invest in Algorand’s platform project building.
Sam Peurifoy, Playground Labs chief executive, said they’re “excited to unveil Playground Labs to build the infrastructure of the Metaverse economy and to enable everyone to earn real economic utility by playing the games they love.”
According to DRL, this year’s World Championship Season is expected to push the limits by combining the best of e-sports and real-life drone racing. Top drone pilots will gather at the event racing high-speed drones in huge courses across all dimensions.
The championship aims to crown a world champion that is the most practiced, disciplined, and skilled pilot to dominate the 14-course levels of racing through the iconic sports arena and the league’s SIM virtual maps.
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