The QPR announcement is a negative from my perspective.
QPR have a tiny following - average attendance pre-Covid is under 13,000 and they don't have an international following. Some diehard fans and collectors will purchase the NFTs, but this is so niche that it is actually a waste of Animoca's time and resources pursuing this type of licensing deal.
Such an announcement might have been promising back in 2019 or even early 2020, but expectations have now been raised. Animoca should be focussing on much bigger and more strategic licensing deals, and be less scatter-gun.
They have already signed up Man City and Bayern Munich, plus a few lesser teams. If they can't generate sufficient traction from games/NFTs with these European heavyweights, then they are extremely unlikely to do so with QPR.
It is basic knowledge that when it comes to sport, you need a licensing deal at the league or competition level. Animoca have experimented enough with single teams and competitions, that they should have devised a strategy by now that aggressively pursues licensing deals with the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga. They've already done this with F1 (and seem to be doing the same with the Olympics), so they have a ready-made model that they can improve upon with each additional deal.
Having already signed-up some world-renowned competitions, Animoca has a track-record that now offers a competitive advantage. If they don't go at it full-throttle, then within the next 12 months or so, this advantage will have been lost, as you can guarantee that other companies will be knocking on the door of every major competition's commercial department to license their IP for blockchain games and NFTs.
Animoca has the pedigree, the technical expertise, the track-record and now also has a huge war-chest. How they execute over the next 12-18 months will likely define their growth trajectory over the next decade.
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