“FarmVille” maker Zynga announces a flashy web3 game even as play-to-earn sputters
It’s all fun and games… until games are your biz. Social-gaming icon Zynga dove headfirst into the web3 pool this week, announcing that it’ll release a blockchain-based game (dubbed “Sugartown”) this year. The mobile-game maker, best known for web 2.0 hits “FarmVille” and “Words With Friends,” was purchased by “Grand Theft Auto” owner Take-Two Interactive last year for $12.7B. With “Sugartown,” it’s stepping into crypto’s contentious play-to-earn model.
Grinding: Play-to-earn games let players collect digital assets that can typically be sold on blockchains like ethereum.
Press play: To access “Sugartown,” players would get ethereum NFTs (dubbed “Oras” in the game), which they can stake to earn in-game currency (but apparently not crypto).
Not earning fans… In the not-so-distant past, play-to-earn’s future seemed bright. In 2021 Sky Mavis, the Vietnamese company behind play-to-earn poster child “Axie Infinity,” was valued at $3B. The game had 2.7M daily users at its peak, and last year its NFT series passed $4B in sales. Meanwhile, blockchain-integrated games like “Stepn” and crypto VCs like Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian teased a world where players would be compensated for their time. But enthusiasm for play-to-earn sagged as in-game economies collapsed.
“Play” may beat “earn”… Many play-to-earn games were panned as boring, feeling more like a job than a pastime (in some cases, people actually made them a job). But Zynga is known for churning out colorful, addictive games that people flock to for free. Its foray into web3 could be a power-up for the crypto-gaming industry. But “Sugartown” could also meet resistance if people stay soured on play-to-earn.