Immutable, a leading blockchain gaming platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Polygon Labs to launch Immutable zkEVM, a new Ethereum gaming chain powered by Polygon. This collaboration promises to accelerate digital ownership for gamers worldwide and bring forth a new era for the best blockchain games and blockchain games in general.
A New Ethereum Gaming Chain: Immutable zkEVM
Announced at the start of the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), Immutable zkEVM is a chain for games that offers EVM compatibility, low cost, massive scale, and Ethereum security. It will pair the soon-to-be-released Polygon zkEVM tech with the Immutable platform. However, the existing Immutable X scaling network, based on StarkEx's engine, will continue alongside the new network.
As part of the collaboration, Immutable will power their best-in-class platform products with Polygon's zero-knowledge technology to accelerate digital ownership for gamers worldwide. This will allow established game studios and indie devs to create blockchain games quickly, easily, and safely.
The Advantages of Immutable zkEVM over Immutable X
According to Deus Ex DAO counsel 0xKepler, there are many reasons to opt for Immutable zkEVM over Immutable X. One of them is that StarkEx has limited smart contract functionality, whereas the new zkEVM network offers a full blockchain tech stack for developers to build games easily. Games could also launch their own customized zkEVM chain (L3) while taking advantage of cross-rollup interoperability.
"All ZK-rollups make different tradeoffs," wrote 0xKepler. "Comparing Polygon's zkEVM and StarkNet, the former is bytecode level = more developer friendly. On the other hand, StarkNet avoids ZK-proving all the different parts of each EVM execution step, leading to higher performance."
A New Era for Blockchain Gaming
"By combining the #1 Web3 gaming platform – currently serving hundreds of game studios and millions of players – with Polygon's best-in-class zkEVM technology, we are building an Ethereum-centric gaming ecosystem that is poised to take Web3 mainstream and bring digital ownership to millions of people around the world," said Robbie Ferguson, President and Co-Founder of Immutable. "Billions of dollars of skins are sold each year with no rights for players - we're changing that so players are in control, and ownership is the expectation."
Launching Immutable zkEVM and Future Developments
The Immutable zkEVM is expected to be released near the end of Q2 2023. Developers can now build on Polygon zkEVM in Beta to experiment with the tech. Immutable will also upgrade the utility of its native token, $IMX, making it the native gas token of Immutable zkEVM and expanding its current fee utility to new zkEVMs on Polygon.
With this partnership, Immutable and Polygon are taking a significant step toward revolutionizing the blockchain gaming industry, providing developers with a more efficient and accessible platform for creating cutting-edge games. As the gaming world continues to evolve, gamers can expect to see more innovative and immersive experiences within the best blockchain games and beyond.
If you are interested in Polygon-based games, you would probably like to check out our best polygon games page and the games list, available there.
Comments