Blockchain gaming platform Immutable has unveiled Immutable zkEVM, its next-generation zero-knowledge proof scaling solution that enables developers to completely remove transaction fees from the player experience. This groundbreaking innovation aims to eliminate one of the biggest adoption barriers facing web3 games: gas fees.
key point
- Immutable’s new zkEVM blockchain allows developers to abstract transaction fees for Immutable Passport users, eliminating gas fees from the player experience.
- Eliminating gas fees aims to enable seamless onboarding and increase adoption and conversion rates for web3 games.
- Immutable plans to initially sponsor gas costs for zkEVM when it launches, paying the studio a paltry $500-$1000 per 100,000 users.
- In the long term, gas costs can be treated as an infrastructure cost, enabling new business models.
- More than 200 games have committed to building Immutable’s ecosystem, including popular titles like Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed.
Gas fees help secure blockchain networks, but these small fees on transactions are still prohibitive in attracting mainstream gamers who are accustomed to a seamless and free experience. Immutable’s new zkEVM blockchain leverages cutting-edge cryptography to sponsor gas fees behind the scenes, making fees invisible to end users and essentially non-existent.
Immutable zkEVM, launching in early 2024, will allow studios to cover gas costs for all Immutable Passport holders. Passport serves as a universal gamer profile that makes it easy to port digital assets across web3 games and provides familiar web2-style logins. Sponsorship fees are expected to cost developers a paltry $500-$1000 per 100,000 monthly active users. This is a price worth removing friction from the onboarding flow.
Immutable zkEVM is gas-free for gamers!
Gas bill? zero.
We are proud to announce that we can eliminate gas costs for all players with Immutable zkEVM and Immutable Passport!… pic.twitter.com/CJBV8XZI7w
— Immutable (@Immutable) December 13, 2023
In the long term, Immutable believes abstracting fees can enable new business models where developers treat gas costs as a routine infrastructure cost, similar to running servers. If implemented carefully along with incentives in the game economic design, offsetting fees is expected to increase player conversion, retention and revenue.
The news was welcomed by more than 200 studios planning to build games on Immutable’s ecosystem, including major publishers such as Ubisoft, GameStop, and Kongregate. With strong institutional investment pouring into Immutable recently, the company is committed to accelerating the mainstream adoption of blockchain gaming.
Immutable zkEVM represents a significant advance for the web3 gaming sector by addressing the gas cost issue head-on. Removing this ongoing friction and providing a free experience to decentralized games opens up the potential for exponential growth. Immutable zkEVM, a gaming-specific Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible sidechain, promises performance, scalability, and a complete playground for asset ownership innovation.
Backed by tech giants like StarkWare, Polygon, and Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, Immutable future-proofs its business with next-generation infrastructure. Combined with an aggressive gas subsidy plan for players and the commitment of major game studios, zkEVM could provide the catalyst needed to propel web3 games to a breakthrough moment. The revolution will be gamified.