Phygital Basketball at Games of the Future 2024: How does it work?

In what appears to be a unique mix of physical sport and esports action – the Games of the Future 2024 will be featuring what it calls “phygital basketball.”

The said tournament will feature basketball action and an actual 2-on-2 basketball match between the 16 participating teams.

First, teams play 2v2 on a basketball simulator, wherein the first team to reach 19 points wins the round.

After this, both teams play 2v2 on an actual basketball court for 7 minutes – at the end of the round, whoever scores 39 first, or has the highest score after the time limit, will win the said round. Free throws – 3 per team – will be held in case of a tie. Results are computed via the points for both digital and physical games.

Tournament organizers say the group stage will be held in the GSL format. “[There are] two attempts to get out of the group. Two wins in the group stage will take the team straight to 1/4, in case of one victory it goes to 1/8. The playoffs are held according to the Olympic system,” organizers said in the official Games of the Future Telegram channel.

16 teams are expected to join the said tournament, which are as follows:

• Ramboot Esports (Spain)
• Les Guepards (Benin)
• Liga Pro Team (Russia)
• Partizan Esports (Serbia)
• Paris Phygital (France)
• Ural Basket (Russia)
• Holcattes (Guatemala)
• Dangerous (Montenegro)
• Antananarivo (Madagascar) 
• Exponenta Team (Belarus)
• Phoenix AZE (Azerbaijan)
• R10 Team USA (USA)
• Caribbean Squad (Argentina)
• MDMX (China)
• UNICS (Russia)
• TBA

The said phygital basketball tournament will have a US$1.25 Million prize pool, with the winner taking home US$437,500.

The tournament will take place from February 21 to 29 at the Kazan Expo in Russia.