The National Hockey League (NHL) has made its metaverse debut with “NHL Blast.”
Inspired by the NHL Street initiative — an affordable, neighborhood-based model that allows kids across North America to learn and play hockey — the experience, which is available on the Roblox Metaverse, allows hockey fans from all over the world to experience the sport in a new dimension.
Within the virtual space, created in collaboration with development studio The Gang, players will be able to customize their avatar with NHL jerseys and goalie masks, take part in mini-games, team up with other users, compete against others, and earn points.
The initiative coincides with the official start of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the ongoing playoff tournament of the NHL.
NHL Blast updates will be synced with major NHL events, beginning with three-dimensional goal re-creations built from NHL EDGE data (puck and player tracking) that will be shown during the 2023 Stanley Cup Final.
Hockey’s foray into the world of Web3 isn’t new, as the sport has been targeted before. Indeed, in May 2022, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky was featured in a non-fungible token (NFT) series launched on eBay’s NFT Marketplace.
