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's deal is widely regarded as the biggest deal in esports to date.

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.