- The two Ethereum scaling projects are working on a new platform for Web3 gamers to onboard billions.
- The alliance will improve game development for gaming studios using new scaling technology built by both projects.
- Web3 gaming has been hailed as the best way to improve virtual currency adoption, given the multiplicity of use cases.
Immutable and Polygon are collaborating on a new project to change the face of blockchain gaming that will be powered by zkEVM technology.
The groundbreaking announcement was made at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), with both parties confirming the start of a “strategic alliance.” According to the disclosure, the two scaling projects will be creating Immmutable zkEVM to operate as a new network to improve the scalability of blockchain games.
Aside from making improvements on the speed of Web3 games, collaboration offers to make it easier for gaming studios to dabble in blockchain gaming. Ryan Wyatt, President of Polygon Labs, noted that the move would open the floodgates of adoption, a sentiment shared by Robbie Ferguson, Immutable’s co-founder.
“For us, this is the endgame. This is how the next billion users will be onboarded into Web 3,” said Ferguson.
Immutable would rely on Polygon’s infrastructure to circumnavigate Ethereum’s nagging congestion issues without the need to expend resources in building its architecture. However, the collaboration does not mean that both entities are merging, rather they will continue the independent development of their other projects.
zkEVM solutions have been touted as the future of Ethereum scaling with its ability to compress data while lowering transaction costs. In the past, both Immutable and Ethereum have been enmeshed in stiff competition to onboard users but opted to sheath their swords in favour of the broader Web 3 gaming ecosystem.
“That made it a very easy philosophical alignment once we looked past the intense competition we’d had on the gaming front over the past couple of years,” said Ferguson.
Immutable’s IMX token will be used for gas fees, while Ferguson disclosed that he expects multiple bridges to be built between both projects to improve interoperability.
Blockchain gaming piques the interest of mainstream publishers
Mainstream game publishers are signalling their interest in adding elements of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to their upcoming gaming titles. For these publishers, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) offer the easiest path to dabble in Web3 gaming.
Konami, Nintendo, and Square Enix have all seized the initiative to forge ahead with blockchain gaming, with the trio exploring the potential of the metaverse in their games. Konami recently announced that it was hiring individuals with the requisite knowledge in Web3 while Square Enix could be changing its CEO to offer new zest in its quest for DLT gaming.
