'FarmVille' developer Zynga will launch its first NFT game this year

San Francisco-based game developer Zynga, known for its FarmVille and CSR Racing series, has announced plans to release its first blockchain and NFT-based game this year.

The multibillion-dollar game studio made waves in the crypto space last year by appointing Matt Wolf, a 30-year game industry veteran, as vice president of Blockchain Gaming to lead the company's foray into the nascent industry.

Zynga also announced that it plans to increase its blockchain gaming team from the current 15 employees to 100 by the end of this year. The company could also soon be acquired by video game giant Take-Two-Interactive, the publisher of "Grand Theft Auto," which has publicly announced a $12.7 billion takeover of the company, which will Completion of the acquisition in the first quarter of 2023.

Referring to the company's plans for NFT games with Axios, Wolf said that the upcoming blockchain-based games will be entirely new, as it "doesn't make sense" to directly add NFTs to existing games like FarmVille. ".

Players can expect the new game to look like Mafia Wars, the now-defunct social game in which players assume the role of mobsters trying to build their own crime family, he said.

Zynga has been taking more aggressive steps into the occasionally controversial blockchain-based gaming space than many traditional gaming companies. Indecision has been a common trait among gaming studios, as features related to cryptocurrencies often draw backlash from angry gamers.

Some gamers who have incorporated NFTs into their gaming experience believe that companies are simply finding new ways to extract money from customers.

Wolf made it clear that the company's game developers will always have the right to opt in or out of any NFT initiative, which seems to be a lesson he's learned from witnessing internal protests against the technology at other gaming companies (EA and Ubisoft).

Despite the criticism, Wolf sees NFTs and blockchain technology as the clear next step for Zynga, creating new, more realistic forms of value, ownership, and wealth creation for players through tokenization systems.

He added: "By creating a holistic experience that empowers players to become owners throughout their gaming journey, our goal is to expand Zynga's reach, engagement and retention."

In an interview with The New York Times, Wolf said that he is very aware of the difficulties that NFT-based games will face: "It's all about the community... We think it's about giving players the opportunity to earn money while playing."

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