Update (November 19th 2021): LDN UTD has today launched the LDN Collection NFTs, with the first one available to view on the LDN UTD website:
The LDN Collection comprises 10 different NFT art sets of 100 duplicates, so 1,000 in total. Each set is designed around a famous London landmark.
Commencing on November 19th, each design will thereafter be released every 72 hours, with a scavenger hunt giveaway scheduled for each release at the revealed landmark location.
A LDN UTD representative wearing LDN UTD merchandise will be at each location for a period of two hours after each set release for participants to find, and then be entered in the giveaway. Clues to the whereabouts of the representative will be shared during the hunt on the LDN UTD Discord server and social media channels. The winner will be announced before the next design is released.
Original article (August 26th 2021):
UK esports organisation LDN UTD has given participants of the Rio Ferdinand Foundation’s programmes the opportunity to design their own NFTs for the LDN UTD marketplace.
The org will donate 10% of all profits to the charity, which was set up by the former Manchester United and England footballer to ‘support young people to tackle the inequalities they face and achieve their potential’.
An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique digital asset (usually an image or a piece of digital art) stored on a blockchain. NFTs can be bought and owned and re-sold.
Creative agency One-Minute Briefs has also tasked their community to create designs that align with what it’s like to be a gamer, whilst incorporating their favourite London places. For example:
Something like this? ???? pic.twitter.com/JcZ8D0x8yg
— Jake Colling (@jakecolling_) August 26, 2021
Additionally, local artists including Jess Wiseman will create a bespoke London-based biome range, which, once collected in a series, will unlock a physical product. Jess has previously worked on other digital projects including one with YouTube sensation VEXX to help complete his latest NFT creation (which sold for $45,000), as well as with Jack Harlow, Doja Cat, Reebok, AJ Tracey, and the Billionaire Boys Club.
This will be launched alongside LDN UTD’s gamer profile collection.
The NFT marketplace solution has been built in partnership with US-based tech company Accubits and Future Tech. Additionally, LDN UTD is partnering with the GoChain Foundation to ‘enable responsible, environmentally-friendly minting of NFTs’ and the auction and secondary sale of NFTs via the Zeromint NFT Marketplace.
The NFTs will include LDN UTD benefits such as various partner offerings, discounts on merch and access to tournaments and events.
“Rio Ferdinand and the Foundation are pleased to partner again with LDN UTD, on this interesting campaign to utilise technology and gaming to engage and benefit our community. We’re excited to see the designs that are submitted by our participants.”
Rhiannon Watts, Rio Ferdinand Foundation
Earlier this year, LDN UTD partnered with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation for a UTD Against Racism event, including a FIFA 21 celebrity pro-am.
Oliver Weingarten, founder and CEO of LDN UTD, said: “It has always been in our roadmap to become a decentralised esports org, and the fact we can continue to stick to our values of engaging community and social purpose in a unique manner with the launch of this campaign for our NFT Marketplace is just another step in the right direction.”
Rhiannon Watts, director of operations of the Rio Ferdinand Foundation, added: “Rio Ferdinand and the Foundation are pleased to partner again with LDN UTD, on this interesting campaign to utilise technology and gaming to engage and benefit our community. We’re excited to see the designs that are submitted by our participants.”
The news comes after LDN UTD signed UK League of Legends streamer Miss Baffy last week.
Earlier this month, LDN UTD won the Summer 2021 League of Legends UKEL.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
