First trailed in late 2021 thanks to its partnership with Forte and the appointment of Matt Wolf as its VP of blockchain gaming, Zynga has finally announced its first web3 title.
Sugartown will mint its first 10,000 NFTs for free on Ethereum later in 2023, with ownership providing both access to the first version of the game and rewards within what Zynga describes as “its first web3 game and platform”.
Called Oras, these NFT characters are conceptualized as “the essence of lives players lose while gaming” and who are building Sugartown into a world where all players can play.
NFT owners will stake their Oras to generate the energy required to play games, whereby they can earn in-game currency Sugar and access additional rewards. Sugartown will be a collection of free-to-play mini-games which Zynga says will evolve over time as more NFTs are made available.
“We’re excited to launch Sugartown both as Zynga’s first web3 game and as the first new web3 game with an original IP by a major mobile game developer,” said Zynga VP of web3, Matt Wolf.
“Zynga has always been on the forefront of innovation, and with Sugartown, our ambition is to empower players through a sustainable web3 platform full of fun and enduring games. We created Sugartown to appeal to a native web3 market but with the ambition of scaling much wider over time while we build a passionate and engaged community of holders we hope will enjoy this experience as much as we loved bringing it to life.”
Also highlighting the importance of legal compliance for US-based Zynga, which is owned by Take-Two, Forte’s chief growth officer Catherine Mylinh added, “As web3 rapidly grows and evolves, it’s challenging to keep up with the shifting regulatory landscape and ensure that game economies operate in an ethical, compliant manner. Zynga and Forte both share a commitment to robust compliance and proper licensing to create lasting, sustainable economic opportunities for the player community, and protect all parties involved in the ecosystem.”
You can find out more about Sugartown via the website and there’s also a Twitter Spaces event with Matt Wolf on Tuesday 15th August. You can find out more details here.