A day before the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) — along with developer nWay — launched the multiplayer play-to-earn party game “Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022”.
It’s currently free to download in the Android app store, and soon to be in the Apple app store.
In Olympic Games Jam, players can create their custom avatar using a wide variety of skins and then compete with other players in some of the Olympic events like snowboarding, skiing, and skeleton.
Players can then earn gems by tapping their way to victory in different sports events like racing other players while traversing a slalom course, or performing tricks by doing quick time events in a slopestyle snowboard event. The gems they earn can then be used to buy boxes for skins and Olympic NFT digital pins which range from posters to emblems, pictograms, and mascots that commemorate the 125 years of modern Olympic Games.
According to the game’s website, the gems will also be used in the future to buy tokens that can be traded on the Binance Smart Chain. nWay promises to give more details once the token smart contract address is available.
Additionally, players can then opt to sell the pins at the nWayPlay marketplace, where Common Pictogram Pins are already priced around USD $2.00 and the much rarer Iconic Edition Legendary Poster Pins like the Seoul 1988 Poster are currently priced at USD $9,999 with the IOC taking royalties for each sale. However, at the time of this writing, the NFT Olympic pins can only be bought and sold on the nWayPlay marketplace “for security and simplicity”.
Even though the real-life Winter Olympics is set to end on February the 20th, nWay has stated in a blog post that the game will continue to receive updates like new content, sports, modes, events, and providing in-game utility to Olympic Pin collectors that will give their character power-ups, such as greater speed, tighter control, or stronger resistance to hazards.
“The Olympic Games are the world’s largest sport celebration. We can’t think of a better genre than party games to get everyone across different gaming skills involved for this global celebration in a massive way,” said Taehoon Kim, CEO of nWay.
Kim also added that their main goal was to boost awareness of the Olympic Games as well as to allow the audience become participants, and not just viewers:
“Olympic Games Jam: Beijing 2022 a play-to-earn title is going to let gamers and NFT collectors alike to not only engage with the Olympic Games, but also own a piece of Olympic history. We intend to support the game with continuous updates in the months to come, to keep the players engaged, and the Olympic spirit ongoing.”