Sugartown team buys out web3 project from Zynga

One year on following the unveiling of Sugartown, project leads Matt Wolf and Tommy Ngo have announced D20 Labs.

Notably the new entity has acquired “all products and assets under Sugartown from Zynga”, with Wolf, who was Zynga’s head of blockchain, becoming D20’s new CEO. As per the announcement, D20 says it’s now “full steam ahead to create the future of rewarded play”.

Due to the lack of activity surrounding Sugartown for most of 2024, the acquisition news makes sense. Reading between the lines, the project has likely been stalled by Zynga or its ultimate owner Take Two, holding the creators of Sugartown back. 

For instance, the new marketing lead at D20, called Camol on X, commented, “We really acquired the product we made inside one of the biggest games companies in the world and brought it independent so we are able to operate at the level web3 requires”.

A day after the news, Sugartown also announced its chapter 1 kickoff.

The reception from the community has been torn. Although some are welcoming the news, others are calling the project “grossly marketed as all hype and no substance”. Crypto degen Grail says “Without Zynga, what are you exactly? You’ve built nothing lasting here outside of the Zynga narrative”.

Another outspoken web3 enthusiast on X Jonah asking “Is the big announcement that Zynga divested? Isn’t that why people liked sugartown?”

In September 2023, Sugartown minted its first NFTs. The 9,999-strong Ora collection acted as access passes into the game, while also enabling holders to stake them to generate the energy required to play the Sugartown mini-games.

Details are still sparse but for more info check out the D20 Labs website and X channel, including an X space to be held on Wednesday 3rd September at 15:30 EST.