FITCHIN Co-founder discusses Solana launch and web3 esports opportunities

26 September 2022

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Image credit: FITCHIN

Web3 esports platform FITCHIN has announced its launch on blockchain platform Solana.

FITCHIN’s tournament and community platform aims to connect esports teams with fanbases, whilst also providing Web3 tools that help teams generate new revenue sources.

Prior to its launch on Solana, the platform had already secured partnerships with esports organisations, particularly within LATAM. This included KRU Esports and Furious Gaming.

FITCHIN’s launch on Solana will supposedly allow users to become community members of organisations, offering them opportunities to compete in tournaments, purchase limited digital asset collections, as well as access exclusive events and experiences. These will be enabled on the platform over the coming months.

Esports Insider spoke to Santiago Portela, FITCHIN’s Co-founder and CEO, to discuss the move and whether the future of esports is in the world of web3.

“Launching is the first step on this big roadmap that we have,” Portela started. “We chose Solana in a way because it’s way less expensive. That allows us in our path to generate a lot of content and value for the user, for the gamer, without paying a lot of fees and making it more accessible for them.”

According to Portela, the goal of FITCHIN is to provide a one-stop shop for esports organisations looking to bolster fan engagement opportunities. This means having community tournaments, memberships and NFT activations all under the umbrella of one platform.

Image credit FITCHIN

He said: “When you talk to all of these teams, they have pieces of the puzzle, but it’s very hard for them to have the whole puzzle. You can have an NFT. But then, what is that for? How do you engage with your community? Some are talking about avatars. What would you do with that? Where will you take that? It’s a whole strategy that you need to think of.

“So that’s where we step in. We say, okay, we have a vision of how we think it’s going to play out. We have these tools that we are building, together with teams. We would like you [the teams] to partner with us and be part of this, have a chunk of this and we all grow together in this new ecosystem.”

As highlighted prior, the official announcement highlighted that FITCHIN’s launch on Solana will allow for low transaction fees, which is relevant for micro transactions and scalability. On top of launching its tournament platform, one of FITCHIN’s primary services is a fan engagement project that allows fans to gain ‘membership’ into an organisation.

Portela has an ambitious roadmap post-Solana launch. After FITCHIN launches its own dedicated tournament platform, the company will work on membership passes, which won’t launch till around October. This is because the company is working with its partner organisations to personalise the passes on launch, according to its CEO. 

Following the membership project, FITCHIN is targeting the introduction of community avatars. “We want to bring light to these communities through avatars and that generation of the IP,” commented Portela. “Okay, you’ve given life to an avatar and to a world behind it and a story. Why don’t [you] bring it to a metaverse and have different experiences with that.”

To celebrate its launch on Solana, FITCHIN will host a Clash Royale tournament hosted by YouTuber Anikilo Gamer on September 30th.

Tom Daniels
Tom has been part of Esports Insider's team since October 2020 and is currently the platform's Editor. When not playing Football Manager, he enjoys reporting on the mobile esports scene as well as the betting sector.