NFL Rivals, a hybrid Web3 mobile game endorsed by the NFL, released in early access on 26 April 2023. Less than two months later, it is already fast approaching 1 million downloads.

Developed in collaboration with Mythical Games, the game released on the App Store and Google Play Store during the NFL’s offseason.

Touchdown ahead

Discussing the game’s success with GamesBeat, Mythical Games CEO John Linden revealed that players spend an average of two hours per day gaming in NFL Rivals with the total number of game sessions surpassing 10 million game sessions.

"We had a great launch," he said. "We thought it would be a marathon and not a sprint. But we came out of the gates sprinting and it’s been really nice."

The game itself makes Web3 optional, playable as a Web2 game if players prefer. But the ability to trade and interact with others in the game’s market is there, with people able to collect or sell NFL players.

Reportedly, it is a minority of players who are currently reselling, and roughly a third of all players are interacting with the economy so far. As well as collecting and trading for the sake of having the in-game NFL players themselves, gamers can also unlock special events, rewards and features with them.

The secondary sale of items represents approximately 15 percent of revenue thus far, as Mythical Games takes a cut when players sell items to each other.

In the aforementioned interview, Linden told that new content is coming this week and that he expects the 1 million download milestone to be crossed within days. When the pre-season starts in August, he expects marketing to ramp up and for a more engaged audience.

In a recent interview with PocketGamer.biz, Mythical Games senior vice president of platform Daniel Frank discussed the purpose behind the company’s digital ownership-based games.