American social game developer Zynga has plans to launch non-fungible token (NFT) games in the near future. Zynga’s vice president of blockchain, Matt Wolf, told the press that the company is looking at the cycle right now and “figuring out where we want to jump in.”
Farmville and Words With Friends game developer Zynga detail their plans to join the NFT industry
On February 9, 2022, gaming company Zynga’s vice president of blockchain, Matt Wolf, told publication Axios that he plans to launch non-fungible token (NFT) games.
The social game developer Zynga was founded by Mark Pincus, Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron, Michael Luxton, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader in 2007. Zynga’s games became very popular after the firm released Farmville on Facebook in 2009, with Zynga Poker and Words with Friends being other successes for the group.
Speaking to Axios contributor Stephen Totilo, Wolf outlined the company’s NFT game goals. Wolf said Zynga’s current blockchain team has about 15 employees and by the end of the year, they hope to increase that number to 70-100 people.
The vice president of Zynga’s blockchain sector says the “studio” is hiring senior positions including a “tokenomics designer.” Wolf did not say exactly when the NFT game crafted by Zynga will drop but he said the company was currently contemplating when Zynga would enter the NFT ecosystem.
“Things are really frothy right now,” Wolf said. “So we look at the cycle and figure out where we want to step in, but we definitely have feelers.”
Following the introduction of NFTs by gaming firms like EA and Ubisoft, Wolf told Totilo that NFT-centric concepts in Zynga games will be optional. At first, Zynga aims to target the blockchain gamers who are already familiar with the NFT ecosystem.
“When they go into one of these products, they come from an investor or whale perspective and look at specific things, including yield,” Wolf noted. Zynga’s blockchain executive added:
We don’t want to bring them something that they didn’t ask for, and we don’t want to assume that they want a super, super deep gameplay experience.
Zynga Faces Competition, Take-Two Interactive Set to Buy Firm
As mentioned above, Zynga is behind the eight ball when it comes to companies like EA and Ubisoft entering the NFT realm. Other video game companies like Square Enix and Konami are also entering the world of NFTs. Plus, there’s competition from current blockchain gaming leaders like Axie Infinity, a play-to-earn (P2E) video game that’s seen $4.1 billion in NFT sales since 2017.
Zynga may not know exactly when the company will jump into the blockchain gaming world because the firm may be entering an acquisition deal. Last month, the American video game holding company based in New York City, Take-Two Interactive, revealed intentions to purchase Zynga for $12.7 billion.
