The company behind the Polygon blockchain has now opened a new division aimed at setting up partnerships for NFT and play-to-earn gaming projects with mainstream brands and developers. Polygon Studios needs to be the company that brings web 2.0 developers into the decentralized web 3.0. That means a focus on NFTs, play-to-earn mechanics and player-driven economies.
According to Polygon they've already served more than 100,000 gamers across a variety of projects. With Aavegotchi and Cometh they've some interesting gaming projects that exist in the edge between gaming and DeFi. One might argue that every play-to-earn game does that by the way.
Looking at data from DappRadar, Aavegotchi, Zed Run, 0xUniverse, Brave Frontier Heroes, Neon District and Cometh are the most popular blockchain games on the Polygon blockchain. With 1,600 players per week Aavegotchi has the number 1 spot, while Zed Run is 6th with approximately 350 players per week.
However, Polygon has bigger plans. In recent months they attracted major gaming projects and virtual worlds to embrace their services. Think about The Sandbox, F1 Delta Time, Decentraland, Ember Sword and so on. The Xaya blockchain expanded the reach of its CHI token to Polygon, while Gala Games embraced the ecosystem as well.
Will Polygon Studios convince Ubisoft and Electronic Arts to give blockchain gaming a try? Who knows. Thankfully play-to-earn gaming has taken the spotlight with its positive impact on player participation in developing countries. You only need to look at Axie Infinity for a clear example, while plenty of smaller games also have an appeal.