RugbyPass, the premier destination for rugby fans across the globe, has teamed up with ASX Sports to launch an innovative new rugby game for the next generation of rugby fans, in line with the start of the 2022 Six Nations Championship.
Using learnings and insights from US Sports such as the NFL & NBA, combined with rugby specialism and data from Rugby Analytics, the ASX Sports game is now available via the App Store or Google Play.
ASX Sports is the only next-generation virtual sports exchange to offer fans live, free-to-play in-game ‘trading’, powered by data from Rugby Analytics and gives fans the chance to trade players in real-time and earn cash prizes against your friends.
The game has been launched ahead of the start of this year’s Six Nations tournament, kicking off on Saturday 5 February.
AXS Sports will cover all 15 games in the five-week tournament allowing fans a new dimension to enjoying and participating in the action.
The RugbyPass Offload podcast team, led by former Scottish international back-row Ryan Wilson and Bristol Bears’ Max Lahiff, will be competing against each other throughout the Six Nations, with a tally being kept across the five matches. The loser at the end of the tournament will have to do a live on-air forfeit.
RugbyPass has provided a how-to guide on the rules and tips on the best ways to play the game, honing in on the real-time data it is making available to players. You can read this, here.
Statistics from Europe from last year’s tournament show a rising TV audience for the Six Nations with England versus Scotland hitting a peak of 8.4 million viewers in the UK on ITV and France versus Ireland attracting close to 6 million viewers on France 2, the best television audience for a Six Nations match since 2014.
Neil Martin, CEO at RugbyPass said: “Across the RugbyPass Group we are committed in helping the sport of Rugby Union flourish and grow.
This new and innovative partnership is a chance for the sport to engage and excite new audiences like it has never seen before.
For a tech company such as ASX Sports to see the potential in rugby is really exciting and bodes well for the future health of the sport. We love this new real-time game and we know our audience will too”
Paddy Power, President at ASX said: “The Six Nations is one of the most exciting international sporting events, enjoyed by a global audience.
We are now offering fans even more engagement through our live, real-time fantasy games and second-screen experience.
The anticipated success of this launch will provide us with momentum and a springboard to add other sports leagues and tournaments in short order.”
ASX’s Sports NFT Exchange resembles a virtual stock market and opens the door to a new era in fan engagement.
Initial Player Offerings (IPOs) will be held before each Six Nations game and the value of each player will fluctuate in real-time, based on performance data ASX processes from RugbyPass allowing fans to buy and sell players throughout free to play games to optimise the value of their player portfolios.
In conjunction with the Six Nations Championships, ASX is also launching Sportzcoins, tokens that fans can win in contests and additionally 50 Sportzcoins tokens will also be awarded to every new user who registers to celebrate the official launch of rugby on ASX.
Fans can use the tokens to gain entry to premium contests hosted by ASX or to acquire and receive early access to upcoming NFT drops validating ‘ownership’ to specific players.