Beer, gambling and crypto: Budweiser races into Zed Run’s NFT games

Published at: June 8, 2022

Popular beer manufacturer Budweiser has teamed up with Zed Run to deploy tokenized Clydesdale draft horses in its virtual NFT-based horse racing and wagering game.

The latest move from Budweiser adds to the $120,000 it spent on nonfungible token fan art and the beer.eth domain name it purchased via the Ethereum Name Service in August 2021.

Zed Run was founded by Sydney-based Virtually Human Studio in early 2019, and its racing horse NFTs initially went for around $30 to $80 to mint but have since gone on to be highly sought-after assets that trade for thousands of dollars on secondary markets. One user sold a single racehorse for as high as $125,000 in April 2021.

As part of the deal with Zed Run, the two companies will launch a Budweiser-themed race track, Budweiser NFT passes, prize pools for Bud-sponsored virtual horse races starting at $45,000, and three tiers of airdropped Clydesdale NFT skins that are usable in Zed Run.

The Budweiser Clydesdales are a well-known group of horses used for company promos and commercials, with the beer makers being a major sponsor of horse racing events across the globe.

There will be 2,500 Budweiser Pass NFTs in total that will go up for sale (to users aged 21 and over) for a maximum of 24 hours starting on Friday. The NFTs will cost $225 a pop, plus gas fees.

Zed Run will host two Budweiser Racing Challenges in July and September, both of which will have prize pools of $45,000. There will also be a $95,000 tournament in December that also offers the chance to win a year’s supply of Budweiser beer.

Hodler’s of the NFTs will be airdropped Cyldesdale skin NFTs in July that can be used to spice up existing racehorse NFTs from the game, and they will also receive Budweiser t-shirt wearables that can be worn by avatars in the Decentraland metaverse, where Zed Run’s virtual headquarters are located.

The duo is rolling out three different versions of the horse racing skins NFT in varying quantities: 1,600 Classic Clydesdales, 800 Bud Bottle Clydesdales and 100 Gold Clydesdales.

After all of the tournaments have been completed, the project will also offer rewards to anyone who burns their Budweiser pass NFT; however, the specifics have not been revealed yet.

Spencer Gordon, vice president of consumer connections at AB InBev — Budweiser’s beer producer — noted that the move marks “an example of how we’re constantly innovating and leveraging new technologies, like NFTs, to create memorable experiences for fans and bolster our brand.”

Zed Run also enables users to bet on virtual races, trade NFTs and breed new tokenized racehorses via mating stallions or colts with fillies and mares.

In July 2021, the project raised $20 million worth of Series A funding in a round that was backed by Red Beard Ventures and crypto venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz.