Your Favorite Video Game Characters Could Be Wearing Nikes Soon

Have you ever wished you could save the world as Sonic while running around in a brand new pair of Nikes? Well, that dream may become a reality soon enough. Recently, Nike filed trademark applications for virtual shoes. This trademark covers digital shoes that appear in video games and other online platforms.

For instance, if you are an avid Fortnite player that wants to deck your character out in the latest Nike gear, this trademark puts a stop to game developers doing so without Nike’s approval. Furthermore, if Nike chooses to sell virtual shoes in the future, they can. And who’s to say they won’t be launching brand deals to have their apparel featured in video games? As trademark attorrney Josh Gerben says about selling virtual goods, “[it] will probably become a revenue stream for Nike.”

There’s also nothing stopping other brands from following suit. RTFKT (pronounced “artifact”) is an NFT brand known for designing fashion and collectibles for video games. They recently created a fashion line for Atari and, in March of this year, RTFKT released a series of shoes that sold out in seven minutes for $3.1M. Some of these sales later appeared on the resale market for $5,000. All this makes it clear that consumers are willing to pay thousands of dollars for virtual shoes and other merchandise that cannot be physically touched as long as it looks cool. And a world where Lara Croft shoots bad guys with a bow and arrow from Dick’s Sporting Goods may be in our future.

What do you think of Nike’s trademark plans for virtual shoes? Let us know down in the comments.

This article originally published on GREY Journal.