Upland’s 2023 Hackathon To Showcase The Future Of Web3 Metaverse Super Apps

PALO ALTO, California, 23rd March, 2023, Chainwire

Upland, the metaverse super app mapped to the real world, is partnering with the EOS Network Foundation, a community-led, not-for-profit organization that coordinates public-goods funding and support to encourage the growth of the EOS Network, to launch Upland’s second hackathon where web2 and web3 developers are invited to bring new games and experiences leveraging Upland assets. As the only metaverse mapped to the real world, developers are able to create experiences that leverage unique characteristics of the Upland ecosystem, which include geo-specific context and assets like FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ Legits, to the largest growing web3 community.

Web3 gaming coupled with metaverse experiences, will transform the way people play, interact and socialize. This year’s Upland Hackathon is designed to empower developers to create unique, immersive, and community-driven experiences that drive increased engagement in the metaverse. Developers are invited to participate in one of three tracks: 1. Metaverse Innovation Track; 2. FIFA Women World Cup 2023 (FWWC23) Track, and 3. Design Track. with the best ideas earning financial prizes and the chance to enter Upland’s post-hackathon incubator.

Upland is one of the most popular and fastest-growing metaverses utilizing blockchain technology. Upland is the Earth’s metaverse, spread across dozens of global cities that have been mapped to the real world and are accessible via the Web, iOS, and Android.

“After a successful first round in 2022, we are thrilled to be hosting our 2nd hackathon for web2 and web3 developers alike to leverage our tools to create new experiences in the Upland metaverse,” says Idan Zuckerman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upland. “As part of our mission to build the first Metaverse Super App, the main topics of this hackathon will have developer teams leverage web3 concepts by integrating games and experiences with the Upland platform to drive engagement and adoption in new innovative ways”

This year’s Hackathon event will encompass three unique tracks, each contextual to the Upland ecosystem, community and economy. Developers, designers, artists, gamers, and blockchain enthusiasts will be provided with the tools, support, and inspiration to bring their Web3 game ideas to life. Utilizing Upland’s simple Rest APIs, participants will have a chance to put themselves on its virtual map.

The Upland 2023 Metaverse Super App Hackathon’s panel will consist of four judges, including representatives from Upland, FIFA, and the EOS Network Foundation. Each project submission will be rated for the quality of each pitch and its prototype, its use of Upland’s 3rd-party development tools, its team’s composition and diversity, business feasibility, and fulfillment of the Hackathon’s mission statement.

“We are very excited about this opportunity to meet and collaborate with some of the brightest metaverse developers today,” said Yves La Rose, Founder and CEO of the EOS Network Foundation. “EOS has made GameFi a cornerstone of its ecosystem development, and Upland is one of its biggest success stories so far. Upland chose to build on EOS because it’s one of the most robust and scalable networks of all, with an extremely diverse and talented pool of developers. Now we’ll get the chance to see what those developers can do, and we’re extremely enthusiastic about helping them bring their ideas to life.”

The FIFA Women’s World Cup Track builds on Upland’s status as FIFA’s official metaverse partner and provides a unique opportunity for developers to build games and experiences that utilize Upland’s third-party SDK alongside FIFA NFTs in Upland. Developers are tasked with creating unique games or gamified experiences leveraging FIFA Legits and Upland assets, with the winning project set to be showcased in the FIFA World Cup Village in Upland.

In the competitive Design Track, Upland is inviting creators to design a 3D asset that will serve as the trophy for the World of Football eSports tournament. In World of Football players compete in live football matches taking place in the Upland metaverse.

Finally, the Innovation Track invites developers to submit community-focused Web3 games or experiences that bring people together to play, socialize and share value. This is a flexible track where developers can leverage Upland’s developer tools, to create almost any kind of game or experience they believe has the potential to become an Upland metaverse hit.

Participants of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Innovation Tracks will compete for Grand Prizes worth $10,000, with $5,000 going to the runners-up of each track. Meanwhile, the winner of the Design Track will be awarded 2 million Upland UPX tokens. Both the Grand Prize and Runner-up Prize winners will also be invited to join Upland’s post-hackathon incubator.

The Hackathon will begin with a kick-off party with OnePiece Labs followed by its official launch at GDC on March 22. Teams have until May 12 to register for the Hackathon, with May 26 being the deadline for submissions. Finalist selection will occur on May 28, with the final presentation and awards show taking place during Upland’s annual Genesis Week Conference at the Sahara Casino and Resort in Las Vegas on June 9.

About Upland

Upland is an open web3 platform for the metaverse mapped to the real world. The company’s mission is to build one of the leading and most dynamic maker-communities through a strong entrepreneur economy that allows players, creators, developers, and brands to manufacture goods and experiences, monetize assets, and provide utility and fun to other players. Headquartered in Silicon Valley with hubs in Las Vegas, Ukraine, and Brazil, Upland was named among Fast Company’s “Next Big Things in Tech” in 2021 and one of “22 San Francisco Startups To Watch in 2022” by Built In SF. Upland is committed to becoming carbon negative and is a proud partner of Carbonfuture. For more information about our sustainability commitment visit https://www.upland.me/sustainability. Upland is available on iOS, Android and the Web, and can be played from anywhere in the world.

About EOS Network Foundation

The EOS Network Foundation (ENF) is a not-for-profit organization that coordinates financial and non-financial support to encourage the growth and development of the EOS Network. EOS is the native token of the EOS Network, which launched in 2018. The EOS Network provides a world-class, robust, smart contract functionality that enables developers to build the best-in-class decentralized applications (dApps) easily, facilitating the open web of the future and, in so doing, powering the Web3 economy. The ENF is the hub of the EOS Network, uniquely suited for NFT, GameFi, DeFi, and enterprise applications. The organization is committed to unlocking the full potential of the EOS blockchain to drive innovation, create new possibilities, and empower individuals and communities.

About EOS

The EOS Network is a 3rd generation blockchain platform powered by the EOS VM, a low-latency, highly performant, and extensible WebAssembly engine. Purpose-built for enabling optimal Web3 user and developer experiences, EOS is a go-to Layer-1 network for developers looking to build blockchain-based games (GameFi), deploy decentralized applications (dApps), and create digital assets such as NFTs. EOS benefits from a multi-chain collaboration of blockchains built upon the Antelope framework using Antelope Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC). EOS drives public goods funding for free and open source tools and infrastructure through the EOS Network Foundation (ENF).