Created by Swiss tennis player Stan Wawrinka and Montpellier Prosper Masquelier, Ballman Project is a virtual tennis game played with NFT format cards.
Real sensation of the year among Internet users, NFT (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital items with authenticatable properties, which can be traded and gained in ability, value, or rarity. Collectables for digital work or hobby, now allow you to play tennis from your computer or mobile phone.
Created with the Swiss tennis champion Stan Wawrinka, winner of three Grand Slam tournaments, Ballman project is a virtual tennis game launched by Montpellier native Prosper Masquelier, owner with his family of the Brasserie du Théâtre, the last private beach in La Pampa, and also of the Bravoloto lottery start-up. Tennis and the NFT collection brought the two men together in this project, which sometimes suggests a Sorare for tennis, a reference to the French unicorn of football and basketball NFTs.
“We enable people to become virtual tennis champions, enthuses Prosper Masquelier. Ballman Project is made up of 6,200 cards each representing a virtual tennis player, with unique properties (technique, tactics, power, etc.) that can be upgraded. Unlike Sorare, our virtual players are not based on real tennis players and their performance depends on the technique and training given to them by the owner.”
It is therefore possible to form a team of players, train it and observe the evolution of each player’s performance. For this, the game has a match viewing mode, available on computer and mobile phone.
100,000 players targeted within three months
Taking advantage of collaborations with prestigious structures in the sector such as Roland-Garros or Winbledon, the game quickly gained success. Last February, the 6,200 cards sold out in about twenty minutes, which allowed the company to record a turnover of 3 million euros in 2022.
Building on this success, the company is now launching the Ballman Tour, a virtual competition based on the ATP model. The entry fee for each player guarantees substantial prizes for tournament winners, ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. These will be donated in Ethereum, a famous cryptocurrency widely used in the web3 world, currently valued at over $1,000 per unit, despite a very fluctuating price.
Aiming to reach a community of 100,000 players within three months, the company, valued at €5 million by its founders, will be launching new card collections in the coming weeks. To finance its projects, the structure has opened its capital up to 5%, only through business angels. “Several tennis players will join us. Grégoire Barrère, who is one of the hundred best players in the world, will soon become an investor for the game”.
Created at the end of 2021, Ballman Project is developed by around fifteen people, distributed across the offices in Montpellier, Paris and Angoulème.