Lionel Messi's Play Time invests in Matchday, an upcoming NFT blockchain football game in Web3 that will offer true ownership.FIFA is working with the studio to make Web3 games, which will be backed by professional soccer star Lionel Messi's venture capital firm, Play Time.The Web3 gaming startup Matchday has raised $21 million in seed capital for developing a range of soccer games. Notably, one of the companies funding Matchday is owned by soccer legend, Lionel Messi. In addition to Messi's company, Play Time Sports - Tech HoldCo LLC, venture capital firms such as Courtside Ventures, Greylock, Capricorn Investment Group, Horizon Ventures, and HackVC have also invested in the project. Matchday has teamed up with both Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi and Spanish soccer star Alexia Putellas. Putellas is the founder of the company's new game series on a global scale. Messi, who is the captain of the Argentine national team and plays for Paris Saint-Germain FC, has put a lot of money into the NFT space. He is one of the best football players who has put a lot of money into NFTs.Lionel Messi currently serves as the brand ambassador of Sorare, a popular NFT fantasy football game, and Socios, a fan token platform. In addition to his ambassadorship, he has also made an investment in Sorare. Messi has reportedly entered into an endorsement deal with Socios worth $20 million. Additionally, he has launched an official NFT collectible through the Ethernity Chain Platform.Derrick Ko, co-founder and CEO of Matchday, said in a statement that the company is making a game for a group of soccer fans that hasn't been reached yet. He also said that the game will be set up for people who don't play it all the time. In the same way, Matchday's chief gaming officer, Sebastian de Halleux, said he was excited about the game. Matchday's chief gaming officer, Sebastian de Halleux, said that the new game will be easy for anyone to play and will focus on giving players real ownership of digital items that they can be proud of. Matchday has been making soccer games for a long time and has official licenses from FIFA and FIFPRO, the players association. In a statement, De Halleux said, "Our games will be open to all players and will be based on true ownership of digital items that will be a source of pride for all players."The company is confident about its next project because Halleux has worked on similar projects before at Electronic Arts, a big game publisher. Halleux worked on the FIFA game series and the Madden NFT game series while he was at Electronic Arts. Stats show that Web3 users have spent about $4.3 billion on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which give the user ownership. With their new project, Matchday is building on the idea that "ownership is equal to emotion." The company thinks that blockchains can help football fans feel like they own the game.Matchday was the first to suggest making a soccer game based on the blockchain. The fact that experts like FIFA, the official group in charge of the World Cup, are involved makes it important. The players' union, FIFPRO, is also involved. Derrick Ko, co-founder and CEO of Matchday, said in a statement that the games will be made for "casual" users. "We are building for a football audience that hasn't been reached yet," Ko said.
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