Ninjas in Pyjamas and Zilliqa launch fan engagement platform The Dojo

Multinational esports organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) has announced a new fan engagement platform with its blockchain partners.

The app, called The Dojo, was developed together with blockchain companies XBorg and Zilliqa and will include special rewards and offers for fans, among other features.

The fan engagement app is a major project linked to Ninjas in Pyjamas’ long-term partnership with Zilliqa. The app has also been developed by another of the organisation’s partners XBorg. NIP partnered with Zilliqa in 2021 for a five-year deal and recently teamed up with XBorg in January 2024.

The new fan engagement app and platform allow users access to different benefits. These include, according to NIP, loyalty rewards, opportunities to connect to other fans and NIP players, as well as challenges, quests and other in-app events. Fulfilling these tasks will provide fans with rewards.

The platform is similar to other fan engagement platforms that other esports brands have created in the past. In the United States, esports organisation Sentinels created a fan platform called SEN Society in 2023 and French organisation Team Vitality created a fan app with blockchain company Tezos in 2022.

Interestingly, Spanish esports organisation MAD Lions enlisted Zilliqa to create its own fan engagement platform which offers many of the same features as The Dojo. The MAD Lions platform is called The Pride, due to the organisation’s connection with lions. The Dojo gets its name from a Japanese facility often connected to martial arts and, of course, ninjas.

NIP Group Founder and Co-CEO, Hicham Chahine, said: “Our fanbase keeps growing. With the addition of new titles, it’s much more diverse than it was just a few years ago. We’ve been looking at how we could bring our loyal Ninjas together in a fun and immersive way, but still flexible enough to keep up with the evolving pace of esports.”