From NFL Rivals to Nitro Nation: Mythical Games, the First Fully Player-Centric Gaming Platform

A lot has been said about Web2 vs Web3 games, or ownership with or without control. We can all agree that Web3 has been about cutting out the middleman, owning the data and the infrastructure, and the gamer being the creator, owner, and controller. Players can join a game’s DAO to modify the game trustlessly in many cases. Unfortunately, poor design often impedes progress. Web3 overcame traditional economic systems through direct monetization, but still requires frameworks for data owners and creators. Some platforms fail to meet this ideal by imposing limited transaction options and restrictive revenue-sharing agreements on the creators.

Nate Nesbitt, Head of Communications at Mythical Games, is quick to put an end to the Web2 vs Web3 debate. “Arguing over what’s better – Web3 or Web2 gaming – is like arguing over the difference between IMAP and POP3 for sending email. No one cares,” he says. “Just focus on making great games, and leave the finer points of the underlying architecture to devs. Players don’t care about any of that stuff. The clue’s in the name: they’re here to play.”

That’s who Mythical Games is all about – the players.

How in-game assets became a transformative experience

Players value their assets more, have more fun, and are more engaged when they have the freedom to trade their game items as they wish. Mythical Games’ NFL Rivals must have caught your attention if you’re an NFL fan who enjoys quick, casual gaming. It was their first crypto-based mobile game, boasting over 6 million downloads on iOS and Android devices. Mythical Games is an official NFL partner with solid financial backing, having raised almost $300 million from high-profile investors like Animoca Brands, Andreessen Horowitz, ARK Invest, and Michael Jordan since 2018.

They are also working on the officially licensed FIFA Rivals, awaiting release in 2025, and partner with the playful Pudgy Penguins, with whom they unveiled Pudgy Party, a Web3 mobile game also coming this year. Another of their mobile offerings to come in 2025 is Blankos Block Party, a creative multiplayer party game where players can build, explore, compete, create their own game maps, etc.

The core of an innovative game economy

Mythical Games’ innovative ‘play and own’ game economies are powered by playable NFTs and blockchain technology, benefiting not only players, but also developers and creators. The professionals behind their games have worked on Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and other prominent titles. At the core of the game economy is the Mythical Platform, which offers a custodial as well as a non-custodial gaming wallet. Inexperienced players access a custodial wallet for security, while advanced players can connect their wallets through bridges between the Mythos blockchain and others.

The gamer-centric approach means that players own asset collections without dealing with technicalities. The Mythical Marketplace, the flagship in-game blockchain marketplace on Android and iOS, gives gamers control and ownership of digital asset transactions. Mythical Games also makes it as easy as possible for devs to make great games. The Mythical Platform fully manages the complexity of adding a secondary economy so developers can focus on this task. Their comprehensive guides and documentation ensure anyone can get up and running quickly. REST APIS are the primary integration path, with SDKs available upon request.

Attracting a highly diverse array of players

Some Web3 games take more than 50 hours to play, but the experience is paradoxically forgettable. NFL Rivals takes a maximum of four hours, but most players choose to dedicate more than that, suggesting solid retention. According to an independent survey, the majority would recommend the game to friends, and questing and rewards keep most players hooked.

NFL Rivals appeals to gamers seeking quick, engaging football gameplay sessions, NFL fans interested in managing and strategizing with their favorite teams and players, and NFT collectors and traders. Players build and manage teams via digital player cards, and matches are just several minutes long. When you’re playing offense, you swipe to control your quarterback to pass or hand off the ball. The swipe controls are quite intuitive.

Another way in which Mythical Games has carved its own lane is that the games aren’t solely based on NFTs. They pay attention to competitive experiences. Players can participate in special challenges during major events like the Super Bowl and wager coins and other in-game items on the coin toss, final score, etc. NFL Rivals may look like an arcade-style football game on the surface, but strategy adds layers of depth.

The NFTs range from a few cents to thousands of dollars for rare players. Tens of thousands of unique transactions take place every month, and monthly sales have exceeded half a million dollars so far in 2025. Many sports events coincide with limited-edition NFT player card releases. Shorter challenges augment engagement, enabling players to regularly earn rewards without making large investments. They can earn new cards by leveling up, playing regularly, or completing challenges.

Mythical Games’ Nitro Nation World Tour (NNWT) also boasts almost universal appeal. It features precise and high-stakes, yet accessible racing with real, licensed cars. You can customize cars, outfit styles, and skins. NNWT appeals to those seeking quick, engaging racing sessions with intuitive controls or gamers interested in collecting and customizing vehicles from brands like McLaren, Aston Martin, Jaguar, etc. It offers players worldwide an immersive racing experience, allowing them to compete in real-time tournaments, races, events, and challenges. They collect and own fully licensed digital assets. The game even features a campaign mode with memorable characters and a storyline.

Mythical Games partnered with Deadmau5, an electronic musician and car fan, to launch the game. Players can buy, hold, and trade workshops, cars, and car parts in real time. Workshops allow them to repair, maintain, upgrade, and customize their vehicles. They can create or join social clubs and teams, which foster a sense of community, teamwork, rivalry, bragging rights, etc.

Another target group is competitive players looking to climb leaderboards. You don’t have to wait for “fuel” and deal with “delivery time.” Each car is competitive, and there aren’t any premium upgrades. The game focuses on the player’s skill and dedication. There’s always an online rival waiting on the track or the street. Racing distances range from 1/8 to a full mile. Multiplayer races allow gamers to play with friends and opponents all over the world in real time.

Players can improve and upgrade almost three dozen unique car components with three aftermarket blueprint tiers. The realistic drift mode deserves special mention: the advanced technology recreates a lifelike and accurate drift experience. You can adjust your car for drift with new suspension upgrades, and the customizable controls will fit any racer.

Strategic upgrades and tuning are two reasons people are drawn to NNWT. Players can upgrade five main components: engine, drivetrain, weight, tires, and N2O (Nitro). The game provides detailed stats for tuning, while NFTs allow players to own, trade, and sell unique digital assets. The NFTs can be used for racing and provide additional benefits, adding a layer of economic strategy. Mythical Games builds its games around strong loops. Players can improve their characters, cars, or athletes over time. There’s always something new to earn or chase — even without NFTs.

The platform’s success with NFL Rivals has created a blueprint for sports titles, with plans to extend the brand across new game genres and sports leagues via Polkadot’s flexible infrastructure. An example is FIFA Rivals, slated for the summer of 2025. Mythical Games laid the foundation for this blueprint in 2024 through a strategic partnership with Polkadot, which brought more than five million players to the latter’s ecosystem, making it one of the most prominent gaming blockchains worldwide. Token swaps between the Mythos Treasury and Polkadot underlay the alliance, which was beneficial for Mythical Games – it reached 3 million+ transactions within 48 hours of moving to Polkadot.

The bottom line on ownership and control

Ownership can be a possession, claim, or title, but it’s passive in every event. Control is what defines power, particularly in Web3, because it is active. The owner with true control is an entity that can modify, manage, and make uncontested decisions about the fate of their assets. Web3 games that fail to provide players with sufficient incentives or control face severe economic consequences, which could be why GameFi performed so poorly a year ago. Fortunately, the vocal and transparent nature of the decentralized realm makes it easy to expose and solve problems. The tide turns fast, and many analysts expect Web3 games to achieve parabolic growth in and beyond 2025.