Los Angeles, California, December 22, 2020. The world's leading Esports club NAVI is celebrating its 11th anniversary with the launch of a new gaming metaverse: NAVINATION. NAVINATION lets fans craft, sell and buy digital assets and receive rewards and gifts from the team and partners. Rewards include club merchandise, gaming accessories and even the opportunity to visit major championships together with their team in real life.
The project is powered by the software application DROP, developed by the game tech LA-based startup DMarket. It took DMarket about 8 months and around $1 million to develop this app.
DROP features multiple mechanics for fans to create a new metaverse and grow it together with their gaming idols. This metaverse connects real and virtual worlds, gives each participant the opportunity to get closer to their team and get rewarded for their support.
Fans receive rewards for the time they commit to their favorite team in the NAVINATION metaverse. When watching video streams of NAVI players, fans randomly receive drops, or in-stream rewards, that can be crafted into valuable goods and experiences such as unique digital badges, gaming mouse pads, club jerseys, meetups and games with Esports stars. The drops are also available for trading on dmarket.com
The first live video including drops will be streamed via Twitch on NAVI’s official anniversary, December 22, 2021. Closed beta testing of the NAVINATION metaverse starts in January 2021.
“We wanted to create something special for our fans, to pioneer an Eports metaverse together with them. This is only the beginning. NAVINATION will enlarge and grow, it will bring a lot of opportunities and much fun to our community. Today, we are building the future, as no one has ever offered their fans a product like this before,” said the CEO of NAVI, Yevhen Zolotarov.
The current number of NAVI fans and followers is made up of more than 10 million people.
“Choosing the right partner to launch DROP took a lot of time, and NAVI’s innovative approach to Esports and gaming is what made the difference. This project is also of interest to brands from various industries because in-stream drops include not only digital assets but also physical gifts from partners – gaming mouse pads, headphones, consoles, phones – that are also crafted from the drops,” revealed Vlad Panchenko, the CEO and co-founder of DMarket, the in-game item trading platform and game monetization technology.
For additional information about NAVINATION or to speak to a member of the NAVI or DMarket teams, please contact Julia Lazniuk at julia@dmarket.com.
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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 the triumphs of 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. In 2017, the startup raised $19 million from the global gaming community and built the first prototype of the DMarket platform. In August 2019, the company introduced its new product, DMarket Technology.