iWorld
Loco launches ‘Legends’, all-new NFT platform for esports
Mumbai: Live game streaming and esports platform Loco has announced the country’s latest NFT platform for esports ‘Legends,’ The decision was taken as part of its commitment to democratising gaming entertainment in the country.
Users will be able to own and trade esports collectibles on the platform, boosting their fandom and giving them the chance to feel like esports scouts for a day. Legends paves the way for decentralisation for game developers.
Loco has also inked exclusive collaborations with major esports tournament organisers including Villager esports and Upthrust esports to ensure that its data plan has the finest in class data flow.
Loco has also built a proprietary data system that powers Legends. This system leverages the data generated by the large number of tournaments empowered by Loco.
Loco Legends launches exclusive partnerships with the most popular esports teams in India including 8bit, s0ul, Godlike, Revenant, Blind, and XO among others. These top Indian esports teams are the category dominators in popular games like BGMI, FreeFire Max, and Valorant, and provide fans with the most credible NFT experience. Loco has a 52 million-strong community of gamers.
The first asset on Loco Legends will be NFT esports cards. This offering combines non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and free to play esports fantasy gaming. Users can purchase NFT trading cards allowing them to buy and sell cards amongst each other and also participate in free-to-play fantasy pools. By collecting, owning, and trading these limited-edition digital collectibles, Loco is designing a unique fan experience, where users can truly get closer to their heroes, build real world connections, and enhance their watching experience. The NFTs will be limited in number and unique to each owner. Loco is the first to build a large-scale consumer platform of this sort in India, that is embracing NFTs & web3.
Founders Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh shared, “We are passionate about the potential of web3 to empower creators and create new fan experiences in the gaming community. Gamers are the earliest adopters of new technology and our community has shown a strong acceptance for these initiatives. We are excited about providing users an easy-to-use experience so that they can enjoy the power of web3 without dealing with the complexities that other products are often plagued with. We are also pumped about the partners we are bringing with us and the experiences that these partnerships will help us deliver to users. Our team firmly believes that this is a unique opportunity to unlock a new paradigm in gaming and this product is the first step in our roadmap.”
The platform is currently in beta and will be made public in July 2022. As a part of this launch, the top 1,000 users that waitlist themselves on the platform will get access to free NFTs worth approximately Rs 500 each. On sharing the waitlist link with friends and family, and onboarding more users through their referrals, users will have a chance to jump the queue by 100 spots, allowing them to move higher up in the waitlist and increasing their chances of winning a free NFT. The platform is now live for audiences to access.
e-commerce
Instamart gold dig event at Hussain Sagar goes viral
Hyderabad activation ties to gold price lock offer ahead of Akshaya Tritiya
MUMBAI: All that glitters isn’t just gold, it’s also great marketing. A quirky on-ground activation by Instamart at Hussain Sagar Lake has turned into a viral spectacle, with videos of people digging for gold coins flooding social media feeds this week. The campaign, executed in collaboration with Moms, transformed a patch of the city’s iconic lakefront into what online users quickly dubbed a “mini gold rush”. Armed with spades, participants dug through a mud-filled pit in search of hidden gold coins, an activity that drew crowds, cameras and plenty of commentary online, ranging from amused disbelief to outright fascination.
At the heart of the frenzy was a promotional push for Instamart’s ‘Gold Price Lock’ feature, which allows users to secure prevailing gold rates between April 10 and April 16 and complete their purchase later during Akshaya Tritiya, a period traditionally associated with high gold buying. The mechanic cleverly blended physical participation with digital conversion, turning curiosity into a potential transaction.
Branded as ‘Gold Diggers’, the activation leaned into gamified engagement. Those who struck lucky walked away with coins, those who didn’t were nudged with a simple message: lock the price now, buy later. The result was a steady stream of footfall and a surge in user-generated content, as onlookers and participants alike documented the spectacle.
The timing is significant. India remains one of the world’s largest consumers of gold, with demand peaking around Akshaya Tritiya. Data from the World Gold Council suggests the festival alone accounts for roughly 25–30 tonnes of gold purchases annually, making it a high-stakes window for brands looking to tap into consumer sentiment.
As the ‘Gold Price Lock’ feature remains live until April 16, the campaign has already done its job turning a simple product feature into a citywide moment. Because sometimes, the quickest way to get people talking about gold isn’t to sell it, it’s to make them dig for it.
