Polygon, the layer-2 protocol for Ethereum, has been shaking up the blockchain ecosystem as its novel design attracts all manner of dApps seeking to leverage its advantageous attributes. The platform recently launched Polygon Studios, a new branch that focuses on blockchain gaming and NFTs, as part of its ongoing efforts to bridge the Web2 and Web3 worlds while actively supporting and facilitating the development of NFTs on its network.
At present, Polygon holds a dominant position within the gaming and NFT ecosystems, with more than 100,000 blockchain gamers on its network, trailing just behind the market leader Ethereum. This year, the Polygon network grew extensively after introducing low gas fees that contrasted sharply with Ethereum’s surging costs. Besides, Polygon also guarantees faster TPS (transactions per second), full scalability, and interoperability with other chains, making it a preferred choice for developers and cost-conscious users.
As part of its initiative to tap into the burgeoning NFT ecosystem, Polygon had recently invested in Colexion, Asia’s biggest NFTs marketplace. To further its dominance, Polygon has now announced that it will finance 50% of all ongoing product development costs of GameOn Entertainment to help build new NFT games atop its layer-2 scaling platform.
GameOn is one of the leading game tech startups and is spearheading the efforts to bring NFTs and collectibles into the Asian market. Per the official press release by Polygon, the platform aims to invest $100 million in NFT and gamification projects that will help expand its network, and GameOn Entertainment is one of the first recipients of this funding. With Polygon’s backing, GameOn will be able to offer end-to-end crypto services, including minting and trading of NFTs, to its existing suite of white label gaming services that it provides to media, sports, and entertainment companies.
With the idea of metaverse gaining traction both inside and outside of the cryptoverse, this strategic investment will create exciting opportunities for both Polygon and GameOn Entertainment in the multi-billion-dollar NFT and blockchain gaming industries.
Polygon, Blockchain Games, NFTs – A Perfect Match
By offering the much-needed solutions to Ethereum’s growing problems, Polygon has already solidified itself as the go-to layer-2 scaling solution. In recent months, thousands of NFT and blockchain gaming projects have started leveraging Polygon’s speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency to build solutions aimed to accelerate mainstream adoption of NFTs.
Take, for instance, the world’s first true fractional NFT real estate platform, Futurent, which recently launched on the Polygon network. While the platform will eventually support multiple blockchains, Futurent will harness Polygon’s feature to attract existing Ethereum users seeking alternative solutions.
The most attractive feature of this platform is that it allows anyone to purchase or sell fractional NFT properties, meaning that several users can share a single property. The company also aims to make it possible for users to buy luxury cars and boats using cryptocurrency. With the Futurent DeFi protocol, users’ privacy and security will be guaranteed, as will their ownership rights over NFT-connected real-world assets.
Another project that will use Polygon is Autonomous Worlds, the company behind Xaya, one of the oldest blockchain gaming platforms. Autonomous Worlds has signed a strategic partnership with Polygon to bring its extensive experience in decentralized gaming to the Polygon network.
As part of this partnership, Autonomous Worlds will integrate Xaya into Polygon’s EVM-compatible sidechain to develop NFT games in-house for the Polygon ecosystem. The Xaya team has already delivered several successful projects, including the first-ever blockchain game Huntercoin (2014), Taurion, and Soccer Manager Elite to name a few.
Via this partnership with Polygon, Xaya-developed games will reach a wider audience by employing Polygon’s low cost and higher throughput. At the same time, Polygon will also benefit from the Xaya team, as they bring years of experience in developing and helping develop a wide range of blockchain games.
Ardor-based NFT game Mythical Beings will also use Polygon to connect to a broader audience, most of whom are looking for cheaper and faster alternatives to Ethereum. The fact that Ardor, a powerhouse blockchain with promising native support for NFTs, is eager to use Polygon bridge to bring its NFT collection on OpenSea, underlines the potential of the Polygon network and how it is inching closer towards dethroning Ethereum.
By design, the Mythical Beings NFTs use the Ignis blockchain (Ardor’s child chain). As such, it wasn’t able to access several Ethereum-based or EVM-compatible NFT marketplaces, thereby limiting the game’s reach. Mythical Beings will be using the Polygon Bridge to bring its NFT collections onto the OpenSea marketplace to overcome this problem.
As part of this collaboration, all Mythical Beings NFTs on the Ignis blockchain will be replicated on the Polygon network using ERC-1155 tokens. An open-source smart contract, developed by Jelurida (the company behind Ardor and Ignis), will connect two accounts via the bridge, one on Ardor and another on Polygon. Through this, the game will enable users to send their Ignis-based NFTs to Polygon, which can then be transferred to OpenSea and traded using alternative currencies to the Ignis chain, such as MATIC, ETH, and USDC.
Not to be overshadowed by DeFi and gaming, Web3 subscription-based content sharing platform, Creaton, relies on the Polygon network to offer a fully decentralized and censorship-resistant alternative to Web2 platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans.
Through Polygon’s infrastructure, Creaton will ensure low gas fees, fast transactions, and interoperability across individual chains, thus giving content creators an easy way to offer subscriptions to their fans in real-time.
Amidst Ethereum’s rising problems, Polygon has established itself as the much-needed layer-2 scaling solution to facilitate a wide range of dApps, DeFi protocols, NFTs, and blockchain games. With the ETH 2.0 upgrade still trailing far behind the original roadmap, Polygon’s strategic investment in several NFT and blockchain gaming projects will play a critical role in helping the blockchain network establish its dominance in 2022 and beyond.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
