G2 Esports files $5.25M lawsuit against short-term NFT partner Bondly

G2 Esports filed a lawsuit on March 16 which alleges that its former blockchain partner Bondly misled the organization about its capacity to fulfil the terms of their deal.

The background: G2 Esports' dealings with companies specializing in NFTs have been mixed, to put it politely.

• G2 Esports announced Bondly as its NFT partner on June 3, 2021. It planned to release its first NFT on June 30.
• All ties to Bondly were silently removed shortly after; the Berlin-based organization never publicly announced the collapse of the deal.
• G2 announced a new deal with Metaplex on January 19, 2022, to launch "the greatest social club in esports history" through the use of NFTs.

The lawsuit: The esports organization feels as if it was sold a dream by the company, which claims to "execute every step of the process" in bringing NFTs to life.

• G2 is looking to claim damages of over $5.25M, as first reported by The Washington Post.
• Contracts attached to the lawsuit filing state that the parties entered a two-year deal on June 2, 2021, that would see Bondly be tasked with developing and selling G2's digital products.
• Bondly also had responsibility for an annual rights fee of $2M and an advance guarantee of $1.25M, the latter of which it could recoup as the NFTs were sold.
• The esports org has alleged that a Bondly representative claimed the company was "past the point of being able to successfully deliver an NFT program" not long after the first rights fee invoice was received.
• The filing continues with G2 claiming that it couldn't agree with Bondly on who was responsible for particular activities and the crypto company (unsuccessfully) proposed a pause in their agreement.

TSM FTX

The landscape: The relationship between esports and blockchain technology has been rocky thus far.

• Many esports organizations have embraced cryptocurrency, NFTs, and other blockchain tech over the past couple of years — including the landmark $210M, 10-year deal between North American org TSM and crypto exchange FTX.
• Misfits, Cloud9, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, and Guild are just a few examples of orgs that have entered deals with blockchain-related companies, but it's only 100 Thieves that has had a positive general sentiment towards such a partnership to date.