NBA player John Wall is launching a Baby Ballers, an NFC collectibles project which may have been blatantly stolen from one of the popular online games Fortnite.

On September 21, Wall said that he would issue a line of non-fungible "Baby Baller," or NFTs to collect $100,000 for charity and the "Ballers community." However, social media was quick to point out that the background looked similar to Fortnite after he provided a glimpse of the artwork on Twitter.

Non-fungible tokens are a type of digital asset that is dominating the digital landscape in recent months.

The 31-year-old NBA star is one of several sportspeople who have recently joined the crypto and NFT trend. He is presently playing for Houston Rockets as he approaches his 12th season in the league.

Twitter user 0x_fxnction, said, “Celebrity cash-grabs like this John Wall NFT coming out show that these celebs think they can take from the community.” 

He adds, “Celebs really think they can come into an industry they know nothing about, never interact with the community, then launch a scam project they’ll abandon in three months?”

There have been many cases where even individual creators have been copying digital arts. Solana and Polygon have been criticized for replicating CryptoPunks and renaming them SolPunks and PolygonPunks, respectively. Non-fungible token marketplaces have removed many such artworks to maintain the legitimacy of the tokens.

As per the statement made on the Baby Ballers Discord server, the final minted Non-fungible tokens will not feature the Fortnite background. The team claimed to have reached out to Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, and been advised that the teased image "falls under their fan art policy" because the token project will not sell it.

The team intends to soon hire artists and designers for the tokens. In addition, the discord moderators have urged new users not to propagate "FUD," a word used in the crypto business to describe "fear, uncertainty, and doubt." 

According to the team's announcement post, the project will not be the normal celebrity "cash grab" that is seen sometimes. They further added that there is a lot in store for NFT holders after the launch, including in-person fan interactions, valuable merch, giveaways, and other events.

Soon after Crypto Twitter cried foul, Wall deleted the tweet containing the image of the Fortnite and replaced it with a new one displaying a Baby Ballers graphic on a plain white background. The token launch is set for September 30.

Pavan A

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA