This move would present a potentially huge opportunity for Web3 adoption by traditional gamers, given that Fortnite has had more than 242.9 million active players in the past 30 days, according to Active Player.
NFTs coming to @FortniteGame? That Nike logo is at the end of Nike’s @dotSWOOSH web3 platform 👀 pic.twitter.com/Erbecmfz18
— Chris Akhavan 🕹️ (@chrisakvn) June 16, 2023
The announcement was made on June 16 via Nike’s social media channels, stating that the “ultimate sneaker hunt” will begin on June 20. The accompanying video shows the Fortnite logo and Nike’s Air Max logo front and center amidst a backdrop of floating clouds in the sky. Then the video changes to reveal the name of the sneaker hunt, “Airphoria”, followed by Nike’s logo for its web3 platform. SWOOSH next to the logo for Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.
The ultimate sneaker hunt begins at 6:20 am. 🏙️🌬️ pic.twitter.com/QgMyA1uXRT
— Nike (@Nike) June 16, 2023
Details are scarce at the moment, but members of the NFT community speculated that Nike may have built an NFT-related game using Fortnite Creative 2.0, which essentially allows users to create their virtual island game maps using Fortnite assets. As @clone_news_cn noted, “I remember Fortnite recently launched Fortnite Creative 2.0 which has a strong custom build map mode similar to making games on ROBLOX. I suspect Nike used this mode to make a game. Two years ago, Nike also created a game on ROBLOX, but it was not combined with NFT[s] in that time.”
While it’s not 100% sure NFTs will be part of Airphoria, SWOOSH’s involvement suggests it’s on the line, while Epic Games also has a friendly stance on NFT gaming. Nike’s NFT unit has been ramping up its efforts to make its way into the traditional gaming space of late, and this potential partnership with Fortnite could be a major step toward that goal.