The highly-anticipated virtual sneaker sale on .SWOOSH faced persistent delays, leaving some users frustrated. Inย theย meantime, Nike has wasย known the release as a success.
Nikeโs .SWOOSH Webย 3.0 platform has released its 1st non-fungible cryptoย token (NFT) sneaker collection, surpassing $1 Million in sales regardlessย of persistent delays and technical issues that hindered the user experience.
The sale of the highly-anticipated Nike virtual creations began on May 15, nearly a week after their previously- announced start date of May 8. The 1st round of sales, wasย known โ 1st Access,โ was open exclusively for select users who were airdropped โpostersโ that served as their early entry ticket. In total, Nike reveals there were 106,453 posters distributed to its earliest .SWOOSH community members.
The โGeneral Accessโ sale began on May 24 โ two weeks after its proposed sale date of May 10 โ and attemptedย to offload any remaining Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs) from its total inventory of 106,453.
As of Thursday afternoon, over 66,000 Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs) had been sold, reportsย by Polygonscan. Each Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFT) was priced at $19.82 โ a tribute to the year the Air Force 1 sneaker was 1st released โ indicating that Nike has raked in about $1.3 Million from sales so far, though the sale is ongoing and now ends on June 1.
Althoughย while initial numbers look promising, the launch was delayed plentyย of times owingย to technical and traffic issues, reportsย by Nike, leaving excited buyers frustrated by the cumbersome process.
Inย theย meantime, updates from the Nike team have intimated that sales are moving slower than expected. Althoughย while trending Nike physical sneaker releases often sellย everything in minutes, over a third of the OF1 Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs) are still available for purchase.
Chronic delays and technical glitches
Andย once the 1st Access sale eventuallyย took off on May 15, the launch was bogged down by repeated delays, setting the tone for a bumpy Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFT) mint.
On May 7, the Twitter account for .SWOOSH tweeted that the platform required severalย more days to โfine-tuneโ its rollout and create a โseamlessโ experience.
Nonetheless, when the 1st Access sale began, the website frequently crashed, leading to an uneven minting experience that lasted plentyย of hours. Several users expressed disappointment with the finicky experience, seeingย as Nikeโs expertise in releasing limited-edition collectibles to the masses.
On May 16, Nike extended its 1st Access sale โ owingย to the ongoing tech issues,โ pushing back its General Access sale in response. Additional โtraffic issuesโ led to a Second delay.
On May 17, Nike stated that there were still over 85,000 OF1 boxes left. By May 22, that number still hovered around 83,000, regardlessย of what appeared to be a large number of users eagerly awaiting theย potential to buy their NFTs.
The General Access sale began on May 24, though the site was onceย more plagued with processing delays. Several users even informed being charged for OF1 Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs) regardlessย of not receiving them. Asย aย result, .SWOOSH said that it โran into an unforeseen error that held up the minting processโ that โ likewise blocked additional purchases.โ
On May 25, Nike tweeted that over 55,000 OF1 boxes had been sold to over 30,000 unique buyers and hailed the sale a success. Other Nike staff praised .SWOOSH for โmanaging some insane traffic.โ
Nike did not instantly respond to CoinDesk for comment.
The worldwide sneaker giant has been making steady moves to expand its Webย 3.0 strategy inย theย previous manyย years, previously acquiring digital fashion startup RTFKT Studios. RTFKT has launched plentyย of successful Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs), including its CryptoKicks collection, and has partnered with brands like Rimowa and artist Takashi Murakami on limited-edition releases.
.SWOOSH has teased the release of a .SWOOSH marketplace in the monthsย ahead and has touted intendsย to expand into virtual and IRL experiences, gaming, mint passes and 3D Files.
Toby Leah Bochan.
