Nasdaq-Listed Game Publisher Zynga to Release NFT Games This Year

Zynga Inc, a Nasdaq-listed American social game developer running social video game services is on track to launch its Non-Fungible Token (NFT) based game this year as the overall clamor around the new innovation keeps growing. As reported by Axios, Zynga is looking forward to building its new blockchain team from a current 15 or so to as many as 70-100 by year’s end in a bid to bolster its NFT gaming ambitions.

The unit of the company that is handling the NFT and blockchain integrations will operate as a studio, and coupled with the proposed plan to hire senior developers, it will make room for Mergers & Acquisitions to bolster its broad expansionary plans.

“Things are really frothy right now,” said Zynga blockchain chief Matt Wolf. “So we’re looking at the cycle and we’re figuring out where we want to jump in, but we definitely have feelers out.”

Zynga NFT Game Titles to Differ From Existing Ones

Zynga is known for many games including Farmville or Words with Friends, and while there have been speculations that these titles might incorporate NFTs, the company has confirmed plans to build out an entirely different product for its users who wants NFT functionalities.

“When they enter into one of these products, they come at it from an investor or, a whale, point of view and are interested in specific elements including yield,” Wolf said, adding, “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.”

Big gaming brands have not started a full-blown rollout of gaming experiences for users, and EZ Sports and Ubisoft that have made the attempt have been met with a number of criticisms. In a bid to ward off any form of related criticism, Zynga is hoping to build its NFT and blockchain capabilities with a relatively energy-efficient protocol. This will prevent the backlash on environmental degradation that Proof-of-Work (PoW) protocols have been embroiled in recently.

Per the Axios report, Zynga founders understand that the NFT innovation is a major trend in the future of gaming, and that should the company fail to accommodate this evolution, it might become irrelevant in the scheme of things in the near future.