By Daniel Griffiths

Early NFT gaming endeavour loses its licence and closes its (garage) doors

It’s always bad news when a NFT-based or crypto-powered game closes its doors with players losing their investments to great outcry. But it’s even more surprising and worrying when a brand as high-profile as F1 shutters its first blockchain endeavours.

Riding high and spearheading the move for well known rights holders to move into the NFT and gaming space back in 2019, F1 Delta Time is (was) an official F1 product, produced by crypto gaming giants Animoca Brands.

Using their REVV token players could buy cars, parts, drivers and more and build their racing team. Performance on the track earns more REVV and greater investment into the game earns better cars, kit and drivers, including named drivers from real world F1.

While never particularly held in high regard as a gaming experience, F1 Delta Time was ground-breaking for its time, going great lengths to promoting and legitimising NFTs in the game space and in 2019 attracted the biggest cash purchase for an in-game item when a jewel encrusted car – named the 1-1-1 – sold for $110,000 in auction.

A later car – sold to raise money following the Australian bushfires – sold for $288,000 with an all time record being a value of $345,310 placed on a 70th Anniversary Edition car, tripling in value prior to its sale.

Hitting the barriers
However activity and interest in the game has declined and flattened through 2022 to date with a peak value of REVV at $0.62 in May 2021, leading down to $0.09 today.

Ultimately F1 Delta Time – which announced its closure via Twitter on March 15th and closed just one day later – was a victim of its own high profile licence. A brand like F1 and all the official imagery and rights associated doesn’t come cheap, and it’s not currently clear as to whether a disagreement over future fees or a dissatisfaction with progress so far were the final straw in the breaking of the deal.

The game used the Ethereum blockchain with its associated high gas fees and had – almost since its creation – aimed to move to a more affordable, user-friendly system but never made the jump.

With no official licence in place the game had to close meaning that all assets are no longer usable within F1 Delta Time itself. However, Animoca Brands are replacing Delta Time tokens with other tokens it claims are of identical value stating that they will “ensure that current owners of F1 Delta Time assets are rewarded for their loyalty and support.”

Used car sales
Car owners will receive Replacement Cars “which are equivalent cars for REVV Racing on Polygon based on the rarity and power of your original F1® Delta Time cars”.

While other F1 Delta Time items can be swapped for “Proxy Assets” which can be “used in the future” to exchange for more NFTs and products across the REVV Motorsport Ecosystem.

REVV continues to be used in other racing titles such as Formula E: High Voltage, MotoGP Ignition and REVV Racing.

High profile fallout like this is never a good look and the profile of the F1 brand has piqued the interest from all around the gaming community. All eyes are on F1 Delta Time as a test case for exactly what happens when large investments – tied to licences that come and go – are potentially ‘lost’ and how Animoca Brands will eventually weather the storm.