Sponsored Play

There was a time when buying a game package or paying a monthly subscription fee was the standard way to play. Gamers often agonized over whether to purchase a package, and those engaged in subscription‑based games frequently quit before reaching the core experience due to financial constraints. On the other hand, even those who reached the peak of a game usually ended up leaving rather than maintaining a long-term presence in the community. This is often referred to as the era of paid games. During the early 2000s, we witnessed the emergence of the free-to-play (F2P) model, which provided basic gameplay at no cost and allowed players to purchase items or additional services only when necessary. This was a truly an innovative concept that won enthusiastic support from gamers.

However, F2P games produced significant side effects. Most notably, they created opportunities for malicious players and bots to engage in disruptive behavior without risk or entry barrier. Another side effect being, intensified polarization within the player base, resulting in the rise of pay-to-win (P2W) dynamics. To achieve the expected revenue during game development, the paid item sales had to cover not only the expenses of paying players but also accounting for the non-paying users. This inevitably required a greater diversity of items and higher pricing per items sold. As items diversified, things that had previously been obtainable in-game began to move into the shop, and to make players repeatedly purchase items or buy expensive ones, those items had to provide commensurate utility.

Such advantages meant that expensive items directly translated into enhanced in-game performance. As a result, P2W became a double-edged sword, brought up alongside F2P, offering benefits to some while undermining fairness for others.

Regardless of original intentions, these major issues rendered F2P unsustainable as a long-term model. This is especially clear in Web3 play-to-earn (P2E) games, where a fair competitive environment is essential and misconduct must be proactively eliminated. In these games, the opportunity cost of cheating is set high enough to discourage it, while performance within the game is rewarded sufficiently to offset any initial financial burden. Ultimately, under the seasonal structure of Olympian Games, dishonest players are inevitably detected and removed before they can complete a season.

Now the key question.

What if you want to join the league, but the ticket price is burdensome?

Sponsored Play is the solution to this problem. Join the league for free!

Sponsored Play: Free Entry into Leagues

To enter into leagues using Sponsored Play, the player must hold SP potions equal to or greater than the cost of the league ticket they wish to purchase.

A player who joins a league through Sponsored Play is referred to as a Sponsored Champion. Sponsored Champions compete with a shared objective, striving for success that benefits both themselves and their sponsors. All prize winnings are applied first to the repayment of the sponsorship principal. Any remaining amount after repayment is divided equally, with fifty percent allocated to the champion and fifty percent to the sponsor.

Through repeated participation, consistent repayment, and the cultivation of a strong relationship with their sponsor, a champion can increase their maximum SP potion limit. A higher potion limit enables entry into leagues with greater ticket costs, thereby providing access to larger prize pools and the potential for higher rewards.

Repayment and Profit Sharing

A Sponsored Champion must use prize winnings from leagues to first repay the sponsorship principal. If the winnings exceed the outstanding balance, fifty percent of the surplus is distributed to the Patronage Pool as profit sharing. This entire process is managed and executed automatically through smart contracts.

The profit share is paid to patrons who have deposited assets into the Patronage Pool to fund sponsorships. A higher frequency of profit-sharing events encourages additional patron deposits, creating an even more robust and thriving Sponsored Play environment.

If the prize winnings from the league are less than the sponsorship principal, the unpaid amount remains as an outstanding balance. The champion is given the opportunity to repay this balance with prize winnings from future leagues. Once the entire outstanding balance has been repaid, whether through a single league or across multiple leagues, the obligation to provide further profit sharing is removed.

SP Potion 101

Category	Description
Symbol	Inspired by the familiar “SP” initials for Stamina Points in traditional games, and represented as a yellow potion.
Value	SP Potion is equivalent to 1 SOX (100 DP). In other words, if you have 10 SP potions, Sponsored Play can be used for league with ticket prices of up to 10 SOX.
Initial SP	Every Champion, upon account creation, is granted 20 SP by default.
How to use	A Champion may have the ticket price of an eligible league sponsored at the start of each round. At that time, they must hold SP potions equal to or greater than the ticket price..
SP deduction	When participating in a league using your held SP potions, SP is deducted by the amount of the ticket price.

[1] However, SP potions cannot be used if the Champion’s SOX (or DP) holdings are equal to or exceed the ticket price.

SP Potion Recharge and Bonus Potions

Category	Description
Recharging SP potions	When a Sponsored Champion repays the cost of a sponsored league ticket through their prize winnings, SP potions are recharged equal to the amount repaid. The recharge is limited to the champion’s current SP potion max capacity and cannot exceed that limit.
Acquiring bonus SP potions and limit increase	Cornucopia awards Bonus SP potions to champions when they fully complete repayment of their sponsored SP potions. The key criterion is the amount repaid at the moment repayment is finalized. The number of Bonus SP potions matches this final repayment amount, and the champion’s maximum SP potion limit is increased by the same number.

[2] For example, following champions participated in a league using 10 SP potions each.

First scenario with,

Champion A repaid through 5+5over two rounds, and Champion B repaid through 3+4+8over three rounds to complete repayment, (in the case where, only 3 of the 8 was used for repayment)

Champion A receives 5 and Champion B receives 3 bonus SP potions based on the final repayment installment amount.

Another scenario where, Champion C completed repayment in the order 3+7, and Champion D completed repayment in the order 7+3, Champion C acquires an additional 7 Bonus SP potions, and Champion D acquires 3, their max SP limits increases respectively.

In both scenarios above, the final repayment installment amount is what matters when it comes to obtaining bonus SP potions.