A cybersport team playing the tournament

Proleague

Solution and technology consulting for an esports startup

PixelPlex assisted Proleague.gg in assessing their project idea, identifying and prioritizing the solution’s key features, defining implementation options and most suitable toolset, and building a project strategy and the rationale behind it.

Project background

  • About the client

    Our client, Proleague.gg, is a US-based startup developing solutions in the esports industry. Their goal is to become a top destination for esports athletes and their agents, event organizers, publishers, brands, and content creators. They therefore want to develop a Play2Earn ecosystem that will raise the esports industry to the next level.

    A gamer sitting in front of a PC

  • Business opportunity

    After analyzing the esports market, Proleague.gg came to the conclusion that only professional gamers had an opportunity to monetize their game skills. There were no solutions in the market that would enable non-professional gamers to receive rewards.

    Moreover, the client found multiple issues associated with the industry, such as a lack of transparency, integrity, and fairness.

  • Client’s goals

    Proleague.gg came up with an idea to develop a first-of-its-kind blockchain-powered esports platform that would:

    • Legitimize the esports industry
    • Establish new revenue models, enabling even non-professional gamers to make money through minting and trading

    Due to the future solution being blockchain-based, the client needed an experienced vendor with profound blockchain expertise. The company therefore approached PixelPlex blockchain consultants to analyze the feasibility of their idea and compile a vision and scope document, which they could further use to present the solution’s concept to their investors.

Work done

  • Key features, user roles, and components elaboration
  • Development of an effective token economy and monetization mechanisms
  • Recommendations on the most suitable tech stack
  • Development of an optimal blockchain implementation plan, helping the customer significantly reduce transaction costs
  • Comprehensive vision and scope document

Details

Discovery

Our team started by analyzing the client’s requirements, ideas, and expectations. Our blockchain consultants conducted a series of online interviews and sync up calls with the client, during which we:

Blue line with yellow point
  • Identified the platform’s functionality
  • Idefined the key system components
  • Clarified user and process flows

We also recommended that the client start with an MVP to test the idea in the market and then scale the solution with additional functionality. Considering the solution’s comprehensive functionality, this approach would help Proleague.gg test their value proposition and minimize project risks.

MVP functionality

Together with Proleague.gg, we identified and elaborated on the core features for the initial release (MVP).

  • NFT marketplace

    Platform users will be able to purchase and sell their NFTs on the platform. Users will be able to mint NFTs as well.

  • Tournament and league engines

    The platform will provide for creating a tournament/league, organizing participants, adding game announcements, applying for and participating in tournaments, managing disputes, and checking results.

  • ProLeague tokens

    The solution will enable users to send and receive tokens, see their balance and history transactions, and manage their wallets.

  • Payments

    Users will be able to link their crypto wallet, pay out with stablecoins, and also pay with their debit or credit cards.

  • Admin panel

    The admin panel provides for user and content management.

  • Statistics

    Gamers will have an opportunity to track statistics on their activities on the platform, filter the statistics, and import stats from game APIs.

The PixelPlex team helped Proleague.gg identify redundant features and choose more optimal solutions.

For example, the client planned to develop a crypto wallet from scratch. Our consultants recommended integrating their platform with MetaMask – a third-party and ready-to-use crypto wallet – as a more cost-efficient solution which has all the functionality required by Proleague.gg.

The client and our team also identified extra features that would be included in subsequent releases, such as player association, streaming, and e-commerce.

Product vision and scope

Based on the results of the Discovery session, PixelPlex compiled a vision and scope document, which outlined:

The example of a gaming setup
  • Business objectives, requirements, and risks
  • Major features and user roles
  • Scope for the MVP and subsequent releases
  • Tokenomics model and different monetization opportunities
  • Technical vision and tech stack
  • Project roadmap

Tokenomics model

Our team assisted Proleague.gg in developing ways the company could monetize the platform, for example through NFT trading and minting or referral program implementation.

PixelPlex helped the client define the key participants of the token economy. As a result, the client’s tokenomics model will include gamers, viewers, referees, team organizers, league organizers, and an esports betting company.

  • Players

    Key users of the platform’s ecosystem. Can play paid games, participate in betting, set up teams, and mint NFTs.

  • Referees

    Resolve disputes in case not all participants agree on game results. Receive tokens for resolving disputes.

  • Viewers

    Watch game streams and make bets.

  • Team organizers

    Assemble their teams (once they pass the verification procedure) and become team leaders.

  • Tournament organizers

    Set up and define tournament conditions, announce tournament dates, receive user applications, and choose participating teams. Receive a reward as soon as the tournament finishes.

  • Esports betting company

    A licensed betting company that allows gamers and viewers to place bets.

To create an effective tokenomics model, it’s important to map out token demand points. Our consultants defined various system operations that can serve as token demand points.

  • Annual subscription

    A subscription is required for users to be able to participate in paid games.

  • Tournament participation fee

    Each player that participates in a tournament should pay a contribution fee equal to 1 token.

  • Tournament setup fee

    To start a tournament, an organizer has to pay a fee.

  • NFT minting fee

    Fees will be charged for creating NFTs.

  • NFT reselling fee

    NFT holders can sell their NFTs to other users. In such cases, the platform will charge a reselling fee.

PixelPlex provided the client with recommendations on the token supply mechanisms necessary to create a stable economy within the system.

  • Referee reward

    The platform’s experienced gamers can become referees. Referees receive tokens for resolving disputes.

  • Referral reward

    Gamers receive tokens for referrals.

  • NFT trading

    NFT holders can sell their NFTs in the Proleague NFT marketplace.

Technology evaluation

Since the client planned to extend the system both vertically (by increasing the number of users) and horizontally (by developing new functionality), our team suggested implementing a microservice-based architecture and leveraging domain-driven design principles.

The approach offered by our team will allow the customer to achieve the required level of flexibility and eliminate dependencies of the main modules on external services.

It will also help replace third-party services or expand the list of services without making changes to the main system’s functionality, thus reducing development time.

Based on the solution’s functionality, we offered recommendations on the most suitable infrastructure and tech stack and mapped out required third-party integrations. We also created a project roadmap, describing the entire development flow.

PixelPlex’s specialists defined the platform’s key components and prepared a system components diagram.

Blockchain implementation

Proleague.gg wanted to develop a blockchain-based solution with blockchain as a basis for decentralized logic, a payment system, and an NFT marketplace. The client considered using Ethereum or Solana for these tools, being the most popular blockchain platforms on the market.

  • Platforms analysis

    To help the client choose the most optimal solution, our consultants evaluated both platforms, taking into account such aspects as transaction costs, throughput, user familiarity, and toolchain, as well as ease of implementation of smart contracts and the NFT marketplace.

  • Mixed approach

    After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of both platforms, the PixelPlex specialists suggested a mixed approach. The distribution of tokens, including NFT and platform tokens, is easier to implement on Ethereum, even given the cost of transactions.

    Therefore, we recommended organizing the NFT marketplace on Ethereum while implementing the logic of rates and payments with Solana.

Results

Our team helped Proleague.gg establish a clear project development strategy, find the best monetization opportunities, identify the required budget and timelines, and develop a well-crafted vision and scope document, which they could use to demonstrate their idea to project investors.