Zynga sells up and backs out of web3 project Sugartown
- The game has been bought by new company D20, founded by ex-members of Zynga's web3 team
The Sugartown team has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that a new company - D20 - is now the proud owner of 100% of all assets related to Sugartown, the rewarded play web3 project which was previously Zynga's first bold steps into new territory.
In short this means that Zynga has performed a neat about-face, selling up on its web3 dream and allowing a new owner to take the project forwards. That new owner being the newly founded D20 labs, a team that's "fully comprised of the members of the ex-Zynga Web3 Team," writes team member Camol on X.
"We have acquired all products and assets under Sugartown from Zynga. This is an historical moment that has been in process for months," wrote the D20 team on X.
What is Sugartown anyway?
Sugartown was launched to some fanfare, seeing Zynga diving into the web3 arena and joining the pack rather late in the game, in August 2023. Described more as a "platform" than any kind of specific game genre the title was developed in collaboration with blockchain infrastructure firm Forte.
At the time vice president of web3 at Zynga (and now D20 founder and CEO) Matt Wolf, commented, “Zynga has always been on the forefront of innovation, and with Sugartown, our ambition is to empower players through a sustainable web3 platform full of fun and enduring games. We created Sugartown to appeal to a native web3 market but with the ambition of scaling much wider over time while we build a passionate and engaged community of holders we hope will enjoy this experience as much as we loved bringing it to life.”
The project was seen very much as a litmus test as to whether high-profile web3 titles from big companies can ever make it in the mainstream mobile space.
With today's announcement, it seems not.
Step in the D20 takeover
But the project has been given new life by the very team that created it, seemingly stepping away from Zynga to maintain their roles and their work on the platform.
"We are excited to explore a world of unlimited possibilities," wrote the team. "Now? It’s full steam ahead to create the future of rewarded play. We have the independence, autonomy, and ability to create products that scale all while delivering quality you expect from a top-tier game studio.
"Rewarded play on the cutting edge of innovation is our ONLY focus. Let us be the FIRST to reassure our holders that our execution will only get better from here. We have assembled a team of some of the top minds in Web2 and Web3 games and are more than ready to embark on this chapter. More soon…"
The team then go on to tease a Spaces session at 3:30 PM EST tomorrow, 3rd September where we can find out more about D20 and their plans for Sugartown.