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Stratton Studios, in collaboration with PGA TOUR and Chain Games Ireland, have announced ‘PGA TOUR RISE’ — a Web3 mobile game. As per press releases, the game “merges the strategic depth of golf with the excitement of competitive play, powered by blockchain technology. Players embark on a journey from amateur to the PGA TOUR, competing on renowned courses, participating in real-time tournaments, climbing leaderboards, and earning 'Rise Bucks' for essential upgrades.”

The golf minigames will engage fans in various challenges such as putting and driving, with the first set to launch later in the year, and the full game release scheduled for release in 2026. The press release states that the full game will “promise an immersive golf experience that seamlessly blends the thrill of professional tournaments with pioneering blockchain integrations.”

Stratton Studios is a multi-award-winning global game studio known for co-development partnerships with leading game engines and platforms. They have experience collaborating with large IP in licensing deals, with Nickelodeon an example of a client. They have also worked with Consesys and Polygon, showing some track record with Web3.

Chain Games Ireland is a blockchain-based games publisher. They recently partnered with Stratton Studios, to support the distribution of Web2 and Web3 games.

PGA TOUR have chosen to collaborate with a development company and a publisher for PGA TOUR RISE, rather than with just one business. That being said, the recent partnership between Chain Games and Stratton Studios means there is more fluency than you would usually find with two separate vendors.

I was lucky enough to ask PGA TOUR’s VP of Media Business Development Tom Jeffs some questions about this announcement, helping shape this edition of Sporting Crypto.

Why do you view Web3 Gaming as a big opportunity for the tour?

 How does Web3 Gaming fit into your overall fan engagement strategy?

Perhaps most interestingly, I asked about the perception that the PGA TOUR has as being an ‘older’ sport, from a fanbase perspective.

The optics of the Tour is that it has an 'older' fanbase. Do you view Web3 as an opportunity to help newer generations engage with the sport?

With NFTs out of favour with many brand strategies in Web3, some, especially those with fanbases like the PGA TOUR are turning to Web3 gaming.

In our previous piece, we discussed the success of NFL Rivals, the most prominent and successful example of a game with onchain elements in sports. It’s a flagship for what can be done in the space when executed at a best-in-class level.

It has also shown to be an example of how sports fans may want to engage with this technology… which the answer to that may be; not at all or very little.

With NFL Rivals, the game is free-to-play with onchain elements that can be bought natively in the app on your mobile device. There is no need for a self-custodial wallet, or interacting directly with a blockchain. The recently shuttered Draftkings Reignamakers also showed that this approach can be successful, and their competitors Sorare have done so too. These propositions are all different, but what underscores them is that they are not alien to the average football fan.

NFL Rivals feels like a normal mobile game.

Sorare and DK Reignmakers feel/felt like fantasy games.

With sports fans, I think we have enough evidence now to suggest that the more abstracted blockchain elements in a product are, the more successful they are. There are very few sports fans who are interested in self-sovereignty on the internet (right now!).

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how ‘onchain’ the PGA TOUR RISE product will be. It mentions ‘Rise Bucks’ in the press releases, but it would be a surprise if this game currency was onchain. I think that the game will likely have a similar number of elements onchain to the likes of NFL Rivals.

There are other tailwinds, also, which may see games that are ‘more onchain’ played by large fanbases in sport.

Sony have recently announced a layer 2 blockchain.

‘Off the Grid’, a Web3 game, finished it’s first playtest on PS5.

Games on the messaging platform Telegram have exploded in popularity, which can be played directly on the app and have Web3 elements.

It feels like Web3 gaming is seeing green shoots in pockets, while we await a mainstream hit.

At the same time, innovation departments at sports brands are having to go where their fans already are when it comes to gaming — namely the likes of Roblox and Fortnite, whilst keeping licensing deals with incumbents such as EA. The oversaturation in these markets turning some platforms into ‘brand soup’ is leading to many turning their hand to creating games themselves, with added control.

Most likely, the smartest and most progressive sports brands will straddle both.

To conclude, I’m particularly interested in the PGA TOUR’s mention of ‘immersive’ in press releases. What this entails will be one to watch, because if it does combine an augmented experience within a mobile Web3 game, it would certainly be a first in sports — and something to watch.

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