Zynga Set to Release First NFT Game This Year

Zynga, widely known for the FarmVille and CSR Racing franchises has revealed intentions to create its first blockchain and NFT-based games this year. Last year, the billion-dollar game studio made headlines when it named 30-year gaming industry veteran Matt Wolf as Vice President of Blockchain Gaming to manage the company’s foray into the nascent industry. Zynga has also announced plans to expand its blockchain gaming team from 15 to up to 100 personnel by the end of the year. It’s possible that the company may soon be absorbed by a video-game behemoth. Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, recently announced a $12.7 billion acquisition deal that is expected to finalize in the first quarter of this year. Wolf told Axios that the company’s NFT-based gaming plans will be entirely new titles, as it doesn’t make sense to start adding NFTs to current games like FarmVille right now. Players should expect the new games to resemble Mafia Wars, a now-defunct social media game in which players took on the role of gangsters and worked to expand their criminal empire. Zynga has been more aggressive than many other traditional gaming businesses in entering the sometimes contentious blockchain-based gaming sector. Some players who have had NFTs added to their gaming experience believe that businesses are simply searching for new ways to extract money from their customers. Wolf has stated that the company’s game developers...