NFL Rivals, an officially licensed mobile football game from Mythical Games, added the ability Thursday to purchase NFT player cards on the secondary market via the iOS and Android apps, integrating a feature that was previously limited to Mythical’s web-based marketplace.

The move comes following a recent announcement by Google that it would update its Android Play Store policies to enable NFT purchases and in-app integrations.

NFL Rivals players who have reached user level 4 or higher will be able to tap the “Improve My Roster” button on the team roster menu, and purchase suggested NFT player cards. Currently, the game does not feature a complete marketplace browsing experience, only serving up those limited suggestions for player cards to purchase.

Mythical Games plans to test out various in-game marketplace integrations in the coming months, according to a blog post Thursday, with an aim to let players both buy and sell NFTs via the iOS and Android game.

Currently, users can only sell NFL Rivals NFTs and browse the entire selection of listed NFTs via the web-based Mythical Marketplace. Purchased NFTs are held within a user’s Mythical account, which must be connected to the NFL Rivals game to activate any NFT functionality. Owned NFT player cards can then be added to lineups and used in football games.

To purchase a suggested NFT through the iOS or Android app, players must purchase and use the game’s new in-game currency, Credits, which is not a cryptocurrency. Credits can be purchased using fiat currency through the App Store or Play Store, with bundles ranging from 140 Credits for $1.99 to 7,000 Credits for $99.99.

It’s an approach that move-to-earn game Stepn has also employed with its iOS app, creating an in-game currency in May specifically for purchasing NFTs. In this case, when a user-owned NFT is listed on the marketplace and purchased in the game, the owner will be compensated in the MYTH crypto token in an equivalent value to the in-game credits spent.

But there’s apparently a key difference compared to Stepn. A Mythical representative confirmed to Decrypt that the NFTs are priced the same for buyers, whether you buy via the mobile game or the web marketplace. With Stepn, the NFTs within the iOS game are typically at least 30% more expensive to cover Apple’s in-app purchase fees.

 NFT Revolution

You Can Now Buy Stepn NFTs on iOS—But You'll Have to Pay the Apple Tax

Stepn, a mobile “move-to-earn” game that rewards players with crypto tokens for walking and running with specialized NFTs, has launched an in-app marketplace for NFT sales within its iOS app for Apple’s iPhone. Furthermore, developer Find Satoshi Lab has integrated Apple Pay for purchases using credit and debit cards. Mobile apps typically don’t allow for NFT purchases on the secondary market because of the complexities introduced by Apple and Google charging a 30% fee on most in-app purchases....

At least in Decrypt’s experience with NFL Rivals on iOS so far, the suggested NFTs are all relatively low-priced, selling for less than $3 worth of Credits apiece. NFL Rivals NFTs are minted on the Mythical Chain, an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain, although the company plans to migrate to the Polkadot blockchain.

Mythical Games announced Thursday that the free-to-play NFL Rivals has now amassed more than 2 million downloads to date since its soft launch in April. Thursday marked the official worldwide launch for the game, ahead of the 2023 NFL season.