Zynga, the social gaming creator of FarmVille, plans to release their first NFT game this year amidst growing interest in the NFT space.
Zynga, the mobile gaming behemoth, has announced fresh plans for NFT-based games and Web3 acquisitions in 2022. Last year, the billion-dollar game studio made headlines when it named 30-year gaming industry veteran Matt Wolf as Vice President of Blockchain Gaming to manage the company's foray into the nascent industry.
Zynga has also announced plans to expand its blockchain gaming team from 15 to up to 100 personnel by the end of the year. The company might possibly be acquired by Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, which recently announced a $12.7 billion acquisition deal that is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
Wolf said that the company's NFT-based gaming plans will be entirely new titles, as it "doesn't make sense" to start adding NFTs to current games like FarmVille right now.
Players should expect the new games to resemble Mafia Wars, a now-defunct social media game in which players took on the role of gangsters and worked to expand their criminal empire.
Zynga has been more aggressive than many other traditional gaming businesses in entering the sometimes contentious blockchain-based gaming sector. The common denominator among gaming studios has been apprehension, as cryptocurrency-related features have frequently elicited a response from enraged gamers.
Some players who have had NFTs added to their gaming experience believe that businesses are simply searching for new ways to extract money from their customers.
Not a Sure Thing
Wolf has made it abundantly clear that the firm's game designers will still have the ability to opt into and out of any NFT plans, a lesson he appears to have learned from EA and Ubisoft's internal objections against the technology.
Despite the complaints, Wolf sees NFTs and blockchain technology as the logical next stage in Zynga's progression, with tokenized systems allowing gamers to create new and more realistic forms of value, ownership, and wealth.
“By creating an integrated experience that enables players to become owners in their gaming journey, our goal is to expand Zynga’s audience reach and drive stronger engagement and retention,” he added.
Wolf told the New York Times that he understands the challenges that NFT-based games face, saying, "It really is all about community... we believe in giving people the option to Play-to-Earn."
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