By
Temitope Olatunji
April 18th, 2024
eSports prediction and iGaming platform integrates open smart contracts and seeks to invite 100 more gamers to test the Blockchain integration in a recent closed Beta Wave 4 phase.
According to Statista, the esports industry generated a revenue of $492.7 million on a global scale.
By 2020, the industry is estimated to reach $1.43 billion in value. The increasing interest in computer games and esports is directly linked to the numbers of hours spent by gamers on streaming platforms such as twitch.tv. Furthermore, gaming tournaments such as DOTA 2’s International gathered cumulative prize pools worth over $30 million in 2017.
Given the tremendous demand for esports and online gaming, blockchain is looking to challenge yet another industry, online betting. Blockchain-based company HERO recently launched a proprietary on-platform wallet for herosphere.gg, which used to be free-to-play to date. On this eSports prediction and fantasy platform, users can now buy in with a smart contract to secure betting opportunities on their favorite online games and tournaments.
Online Games DOTA 2 & Leagues of Legends Tested on Blockchain
Upon the successful completion of the HERO initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017, the company started working on its first use case, herosphere.gg to assess what happens on the blockchain when implementing smart contracts. The beta version currently runs on a copy of Ethereum Core called Ropsten, heavily used by developers for testing.
eSports and fantasy platform herosphere.gg invites users to place their bets on “contests”. After choosing a team and placing a bet on the outcome of a match, participants are ranked based on the points they collected from predicting match results and the performance of their fantasy team players; all actions are taken via smart contracts where buy-ins and pay-outs, as well as the wallet handling run on Blockchain.
At the time of writing, herosphere.gg supports four main games: DOTA 2, Leagues of Legends, Counterstrike: Global Offensive, and Overwatch.
Beta Wave 4 Testing on the Mainnet
After several waves on closed beta tests on the testnet, herosphere.gg has had 200 testers so far. Between October 8 and October 14, the platform has opened 100 more spots on its latest Beta Wave 4 on the testnet which will also be part of the closed group that is allowed to test the actual mainnet before everyone else. Those interested to participate can sign up and they’ll receive an email to be notified whether or not they’re made it on the list.
By participating, players get access to the first blockchain-based product targeting the eSports and fantasy platform; they will be rewarded HEROcoins for taking surveys and reporting bugs, not to mention that they get the opportunity to bet on their favorite teams on the blockchain.
Before joining a contest, users will have to create an on-platform wallet, and make a transfer from their original wallet. Following this step, each contest users participate in will have their own smart contract address to ensure transactional transparency on herosphere.gg.
Betting on Games via Open Smart Contracts
The team at HERO is focused on integrating HEROcoin in all pay-to-play contests. To ensure a high standard of security and maximize user experience, HERO designed a token (PLAY), a cryptocurrency which allows betting on herosphere.gg and other betting providers in the near future.
Throughout the beta waves of herosphere.gg, the goal is to gather user feedback to improve user experience on the platform, particularly contest participation, navigation, speed, and social media aspects. The mission is to develop a vibrant social platform for eSports and igaming where betting on teams can be facilitated by smart contracts.
Currently, the team at HERO is focused on improving user experience on the herosphere.gg platform, gather feedback from the players, and evaluate prototypes before going live on mainnet with the esports igaming platform.