UK esports organisation Method have partnered with metaverse and investment firm Everyrealm to launch a separate entity, a blockchain-based gaming guild called Method MetaGuild (MMG).
The pair said in an announcement that the purpose of the collaboration is to ‘develop the competitive ecosystem within blockchain gaming and bring traditional gamers into the space’.
MMG has more than 3,000 competitive gamers playing blockchain-based games under the Method MetaGuild banner. These include the likes of Delysium, Planet Mojo, Axie Infinity (a game fellow UK org Semper Fortis got involved with in the past), and Cyball.
It’s also collaborating with other guilds to ‘create a sustainable esports ecosystem’. The first MMG esports event, the MMG Showdown, a two-day double elimination Axie Infinity tournament, saw players competing for a prize of 150 AXS tokens.
Everyrealm is backed by high-profile investors including a16z, Lightspeed, Coinbase, Dapper Labs, Zynga-founder Mark Pincus, and celebrities including Paris Hilton and the Weeknd, while MMG is backed by Griffin Gaming Partners, Galaxy Interactive, Three Arrows Capital, NGC, Foresight Ventures, and GoldenTree Crypto.
“This is a separate entity from Method and the guild. It’s similar to a traditional esports team but operates on blockchain gaming. The focus of MMG will be to create content, worth with competitors, put on events and what you’d associate with an esports team.”
Sco, Method
“Method’s history of innovation and our commitment to be at the forefront of cutting edge developments in gaming led us to our expansion into web3. With established blockchain gaming guilds starting to form coalitions, the best guilds with the strongest metrics–which Method MetaGuild is already demonstrating–are likely to dominate this growing scene in the future,” said MMG and Method co-founder Scott ‘Sco’ McMillan.
“The high quality blockchain games currently under development and launching soon will radically reframe the way in which blockchain gaming is perceived by the gaming community, and we’re excited to create a web3 hub for competitive gaming,” added Zach Hungate, head of gaming at Everyrealm.
MMG said it hopes to provide an enjoyable player experience and shift the view some have in the gaming community that blockchain games are only about being ‘play to earn’, and focus more on ‘a play to win paradigm where NFT accumulation and value accretion are the developing trends’.
In response to some criticism from the community, Sco posted an update, saying this is not an NFT sell project, and that it’s separate to Method’s World of Warcraft-focused guild.
Sco said: “This is a separate entity from Method and the guild. It’s similar to a traditional esports team but operates on blockchain gaming. The focus of MMG will be to create content, worth with competitors, put on events and what you’d associate with an esports team.
“I understand a lot of people are sceptical about blockchain and there has been a lot of bad actors and bad projects in the crypto space. But the technology itself has a lot of potential and if it’s used in the right way, I think it could be very positive and a big win for everyone involved.
“I’ve had conversations with various different esports team owners and companies in the space, and I know they’re all interested in the blockchain gaming side of things. I think we’ll see more entries [into web3] from teams in the future, in various shapes and forms, and some have already made an entry, like Team Secret.”
The news comes as Method celebrate their 17th birthday.
Earlier this year, fellow UK-based org Fnatic launched a web3 membership programme to a mixed response.
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.
