Polygon partners with Immutable for zkEVM Ethereum gaming network

Polygon has partnered with Immutable to create a network targeting the Web3 gaming industry. This network will be powered by the Polygon zkEVM technology. The “strategic alliance” will see the creation of Immutable zkEVM.

Polygon partners with Immutable for zkEVM

This partnership comes amid the beginning of the annual Game Developer Conference (GDC). Polygon’s zkEVM mainnet network will go live in beta on March 27. On the other hand, the existing Immutable X scaling network will run alongside the newly launched Immutable zkEVM network.

The co-founder and President of Immutable, Robbie Ferguson, commented on the development, saying the partnership would allow core builders behind the two networks to merge their efforts within the Web3 video game sector.

Immutable and Polygon are scaling networks on the Ethereum blockchain. The two networks use different approaches, but the objective is to make Ethereum gain adoption for decentralized applications such as video games and large-scale non-fungible token (NFT) projects. These scaling networks support faster and cheaper transactions.

zkEVM solutions are expected to take Ethereum scaling solutions to the next level. These solutions pair transaction rollups created on zero-knowledge proof cryptography using the full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) support. Additionally, zkEVM solutions are promoted as fast and secure solutions compatible with the smart contract capabilities for Ethereum.

Rival networks come together to boost scalability

Immutable and Polygon are rival networks, and they have been competing to lure developers to their respective networks. The president of Polygon Labs, Ryan Wyatt, said that when the two firms started discussing a possible partnership nine months ago, the situation was tense as the two are competitors.

“It took time for both sides to figure out: OK, how does this actually make sense for all of us? The more that we talked and the more time that we spent together, it’s actually very naturally aligned,” Wyatt said.

Immutable zkEVM scaling solution is slated to be launched towards the end of the second quarter of this year. At this time, Immutable will see usable things going live. However, developers will start creating DApps on software development kits (SDKs) that have adopted this technology.

The networks anticipate seeing Immutable zkEVM emerge as the best solution for the two worlds. The network that will use the next-generation scaling technology by Polygon while accessing the gaming infrastructure created by Immutable will offer an appealing place for developers to venture into the Web3 gaming sector.

According to Wyatt, the Web3 gaming industry is gaming mainstream adoption despite the rejection coming from the traditional video game space. Amid this criticism, some traditional video game developers like Square Enix and the Pokémon Company are interested in crypto technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

He also noted that Web3 games must abandon the complex nature of crypto and new technologies. Instead, these platforms need to focus more on offering players a fun and seamless experience and attracting crypto and traditional gamers.