Immutable and Polygon Labs, two prominent companies in the web3 industry, have announced their collaboration to increase the adoption of Web3 gaming. Their goal is to leverage their extensive gaming experience, which is worth billions of dollars.
This is to assist gaming developers in making their ideas more accessible in the Web3 space. The first step in this collaboration is Immutable’s adoption of Polygon’s new zkEVM technology, which is Ethereum-compatible and reduces transaction fees.
Why This Partnership?
Beginning this season, Immutable, the central platform for Web3 gaming, has teamed up with Polygon Labs to revolutionize the blockchain gaming industry. Their goal is to integrate their most innovative products and services to assist gaming developers in their Web3 activities. Ultimately, this move will encourage the 3 billion active gamers and creators to participate in the blockchain sector.
Polygon simplifies the technical aspects of Web3 gaming, such as transactions, while Immutable offers some of the most user-friendly platform products for gamers. This groundbreaking partnership began with Immutable’s adoption of Polygon’s zkEVM technology.
Immutable 🤝 @0xPolygon
We are joining forces in an industry-defining partnership to accelerate the development and adoption of web3 gaming. The future of gaming begins today with the announcement of the Immutable zkEVM, powered by Polygon.https://t.co/7FEyidsydV pic.twitter.com/IkhbWrLIaq
— Immutable – $IMX (@Immutable) March 20, 2023
How Will the Partnership Change Web3 Gaming?
Robbie Ferguson, co-founder and President of Immutable, told Decrypt that the partnership was an evident decision that allowed both networks’ core builders to collaborate in promoting the adoption of Web3 gaming. He also mentioned that this partnership is their endgame, and it’s how the next billion users will be introduced to Web3.
Although Polygon’s primary network is a sidechain and Immutable X is a layer-2 network, both are Ethereum scaling networks that make Ethereum more practical for decentralized applications (dapps), large-scale NFT projects, and video games. Both networks enable faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum’s mainnet, albeit using different methods.
Polygon’s zkEVM solution and others are anticipated to bring Ethereum scaling to the next level. It combines transaction rollups that rely on zero-knowledge proof cryptography with full support for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In essence, it’s a fast and secure solution that is natively compatible with Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities.
Immutable and Polygon are rival scaling networks that have previously vied to attract developers, brands, and users to their respective platforms. According to Decrypt, Ryan Wyatt, the President of Polygon Labs, acknowledged that it was somewhat uncomfortable initially to discuss a unified path forward when the two parties began communicating about nine months ago.
He stated that it took some time for both parties to understand how this partnership could make sense for everyone. However, the more they communicated and spent time together, the more naturally aligned their goals became.
Ferguson stated that although Polygon and Immutable X were previously competitors, they both aimed to scale Ethereum rather than compete with it as a layer-1 rival. This shared belief in expanding Ethereum’s capabilities rather than creating a new bespoke network also provided a common ground for collaboration.
The two companies believe that Immutable zkEVM is the best of both worlds since it will employ Polygon’s next-generation scaling technology while leveraging Immutable’s gaming infrastructure. As the Web3 gaming market grows, it may be an attractive platform for developers to establish themselves.
