Los Angeles, California, February 23, 2021. One of the world’s leading esports clubs, NAVI, has launched the first season of the NAVINATION, a metaverse and a seasonal competition letting NAVI fans get closer to their idols and receive rewards from their favorite team. Not to mention, competing for some fantastic prizes each week (and season!) while building a metaverse together with players, streamers, and brands.
NAVINATION is powered by the software application DROP, developed by the LA-based game tech startup DMarket.
NAVINATION users get drops for watching live streams by NAVI players. Each drop contains a piece of a physical or digital prize. From these pieces, a participant can craft, for example, a NAVI hoodie or a gaming mouse. The winner can claim and get these items right away or trade them on the platform DMarket.com. Whether it’s for an exclusive signed jersey of their favorite team, a cool-looking skin from a favorite game, or anything else that other users have to offer. As well as physical and digital prizes, fans will also receive exclusive opportunities to get closer to their idols, like getting access to closed AMA sessions with the players.
All of these make DROP a unique, unprecedented technology both for esports and live streaming, as well as the digital goods market.
During Season One, participants compete to climb the leaderboards by gaining experience points (XP) for different activities such as watching streams, crafting items, and completing various quests like searching for secret codes or inviting friends to NAVINATION. Leaders of each week and the whole season receive the main prizes including: a full set of pro gaming gear from NAVI’s partner, Logitech, exclusive NAVI merchandise, and unique digital memorabilia, collectables and even digital art. Each piece will be dedicated to NAVINATION Season One.
The season has already attracted tens of thousands of fans who are actively discussing the new features on social media. While having fun and earning rewards, fans work together with NAVI and its partners towards combining real-world and digital experiences into a single metaverse.
“We are happy and proud to see such an enthusiastic reaction from our community. For NAVI, it’s an opportunity to reward our fans, bring them even closer to the team, and let them create something really big and innovative while simply having fun”, revealed CMO of NAVI, Alex Pavlenko.
“NAVINATION perfectly shows how the DROP technology can strengthen ties between organizations and brands on one side and their audiences on the other. This is exactly what DROP is built for – to bring more fun to the audience while adding extra value to the brand,” said Founder and CEO of DMarket, Vlad Panchenko.
The NAVI community is currently abuzz with fans discussing these new features on social media, and welcoming the project with excitement.
NAVINATION Season One ends on March 15, 2021. At the end of the season, the ultimate winners will receive the main prizes of the tournament.
About NaVi
NAVI (Natus Vincere, from Latin “born to win”) is one of the world’s leading esports clubs. Over the ten years of its existence, it has seen many triumphs in its numerous lineups and set several world records, which stand to this day. There are lineups in various esports disciplines currently performing under the NAVI tag, such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, PUBG, Rainbow Six, Apex Legends, Fortnite and other games.
About DMarket
DMarket is an in-game item trading platform and game monetization technology for developers, players, content creators, brands, and esports organizations. In June 2020, it raised $7.2 million from Silicon Valley venture funds. The company’s investors include Almaz Capital and Fulgur Ventures funds along with the game industry payment solutions company Xsolla. DMarket was founded by Vlad Panchenko and Tamara Slanova and has offices in Los Angeles, London, and Kyiv.