Web3 Weekly 9/21

🟨 Sugartown Gets Minty, Konami’s PROJECT ZIRCON, Polygon Gaming Exodus, and more

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Web3 No Re
September 21, 2023

Gm, ga and gn you beautiful bunch. Two out of five top gaming tokens in the green - we’re so back.

Conference season has started to quieten, it’s raining in London and Griff is back on his bullshit at Messari Mainnet - we are returning to normal state. Thanks to all of you who have read this week’s post on whales - this is an intro to a bigger series on in-game economies and tokenomics so watch out for the next drop!

Here’s what we’ve got cooking today:

  • Sugartown Gets Minty

  • Change Log

  • Konami’s PROJECT ZIRCON

  • Polygon Gaming Exodus

  • Other News

Sugartown Gets Minty

Zynga held its inaugural mint for its upcoming game Sugartown last week and it was a massive success. The free mint of 6k Oras NFTs to residents of the US, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam sold out almost immediately after it reached the public.

The free mint saw over 4k trades on OpenSea for a total transaction volume of just under 600 ETH within its first 24hrs. The floor has dropped a bit since, but the upcoming game seems to be highly anticipated by players, degens and whales.

Sugartown plans to be a multigame platform where players compete against

eachother to get on the Sugarboard. Oras are the first Sugartown collection representing creators from a different dimension that build games and develop experiences for holders.

The reveal of the Oras collection is happening later today, with details on staking and gameplay expected as well.

Sugartown is Zynga’s first effort in web3, and developers at the mobile-casual game are continuing to see the overlap between their existing web2 efforts and new web3 initiatives. Amitt Mahajan, the co-creator of Zynga’s FarmVille, recently raised $33M in seed funding round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and Greenoaks Capital. The funds will support the growth of the web3 RPG studio Proof of Play and the development of Pirate Nation.

Change Log

Konami’s PROJECT ZIRCON

Konami, the legendary gaming company behind classics like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Castlevania, is making waves in the blockchain universe with "PROJECT ZIRCON." This isn't just another game; it's an ambitious foray into the world of web3 and NFTs. Pre-registration is already open, and the full reveal is set for the Tokyo Game Show on September 21st. This is massive news for blockchain gaming, as Konami's entry signifies not just the adoption of new technology, but a seismic shift in how games are developed and played.

The game's universe is as rich as it is mysterious. In A.D. 1543, a mysterious "stone" falls from the sky, creating a world-altering hole. From this hole, a great disaster emerges, but just when all hope seems lost, veins of Zircon mineral appear. Selected individuals gain "special powers" through Zircon, becoming legends who vanish into the hole. Fast forward to A.D. 1643, a century later, the great disaster re-emerges as a dragon, threatening to engulf the world. The lore suggests a world transformed by Zircon, where players may assume roles of new heroes to combat emerging threats. It's not just a game; it's a universe with its own history and challenges.

The latest updates reveal that "PROJECT ZIRCON" is designed to be an ever-evolving, co-creative experience. The developers are keen on breaking traditional gaming norms. They view the process of creating the game as an adventure and want to share this journey with the community. Your ideas could be the next big thing for the game. If you were to define what "PROJECT ZIRCON" is, it would be a game where the community is the protagonist. The aim is to make the journey of creation as exciting as the game itself. Whether you're an investor looking for the next big big project, a player eager for a new gaming experience or a web3 game builder, this is a project you'll want to keep an eye on.

Polygon Gaming Exodus

Something’s going down at Polygon. If we had the inside knowledge, we’d tell you, but from the outside, it’s pretty clear that there’s a shift going on with Polygon gaming.

Polygon has been dominating web3 gaming as of recently, with a total of around 109 launched or announced games exclusively on the blockchain—more than any other blockchain to date.

When Ryan Wyatt, the former Global Head of YouTube Gaming (and MLG caster for the OGs), joined Polygon Labs as the President, Polygon overtook Binance Smart Chain as the leading gaming chain. Since his departure, however, we’ve seen a slow exit from highly anticipated games to other chains.

Pirate Nation, a game developed by FarmVille’s co-creator and backed by prominent investors like 16z, left Polygon in April to build on Arbitrum. More recently, we saw Polygon’s largest game, Pixels, make a move to align with Axie Infinity on Ronin, just weeks after Cyber Kongz made the same move.

This shift looks to be larger than gaming. Just last month, DeLab chose to migrate their PFP project y00ts from Polygon to Ethereum - just five months after migrating to the layer 2 and securing a $3 million grant from Polygon.

It’s unclear what’s driving the move, but it seems Polygon is losing its position as the darling L2 for web2 activations and brand building. Ryan Wyatt has continued to drive web3 gaming adoption, though—check out his latest appearance on Lightspeed by Blockworks.

Other News

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