NFT marketplace Magic Eden integrates with Polygon to grow blockchain gaming

NFT marketplace Magic Eden is integrating with the Ethereum scaling layer-2 blockchain Polygon to dive deeper into the blockchain gaming and NFT ecosystems, the companies announced on Tuesday.

“We are excited to integrate with Polygon and continue our pursuit of a multi-chain future for Magic Eden,” Zhuoxun Yin, Magic Eden co-founder and COO, said to TechCrunch. “By offering this integration, we are continuing to remove any chain-specific barriers and open NFTs to the masses.”

The expansion aims to provide Magic Eden the ability to support Polygon’s ecosystem of game developers and creators. The Polygon network hosts some of the biggest web3 gaming projects and publishers like Ubisoft, Atari, Animoca Brands, Decentraland, Sandbox, among others.

Ethereum-focused Polygon has also made headlines recently for partnering with non-crypto-native companies like Instagram, Stripe, Disney, Starbucks and Robinhood to integrate web3 technology into businesses.

“The integration will allow us to onboard more global brands and new users into the NFT marketplace, while continuing to bring web3 games to the masses,” Yin said. “Polygon has already brought many recognized brands into web3, which opens the gate for new users to discover the many utilities of NFTs.”

Polygon network supports over 37,000 decentralized applications (dApps) and has had about 1.8 billion total transactions processed, according to its website. The expansion with Polygon could provide Magic Eden with the ability to tap into its ecosystem and vice versa.

After launching in September 2021, Magic Eden grew in popularity fairly quickly. On average, it has about 10 million unique user sessions per month and sees over 20,000 NFTs traded daily – even amid a market downturn, the company stated. In June, Magic Eden raised $130 million, bringing its valuation to $1.6 billion.

To date, Magic Eden’s platform has over $2.5 billion in total NFT trade volume.

In general, the NFT market hasn’t been growing lately, as total NFT sales have declined every month consecutively since April, according to CryptoSlam data. However, in the past 30 days, Ethereum NFT sales volume increased about 26%, while Solana NFT sales volume fell almost 20%, the data showed. During that time period, Polygon outperformed both Ethereum and Solana blockchains with a 71% increase in NFT sales volume.

“Our entry into Polygon will include a launchpad and marketplace, both of which will go live next month and simplify the process for NFT creators and collectors,” Yin said.

Crypto launchpads are also known as crypto incubators and are platforms that allow web3-focused projects to build within a designated blockchain network. In Magic Eden’s case, its NFT marketplace launchpad is a cross-chain on Solana, Ethereum, or both and is responsible for 90% of all Solana-based NFT volume, according to its website.

The integration will focus on providing tools to creators including a launchpad and marketplace that is linked to Polygon’s native token, MATIC, according to a statement. Gaming developers like BORA backed by Kakao Games, IntellaX, nWay, Block Games, Boomland, Planet Mojo, and Taunt Battleworld have already committed to Magic Eden’s Launchpad with Polygon.

Long term, the partnership between Magic Eden and Polygon aims to bring more gaming developers and NFT games to market, Yin said.

So far, Magic Eden has brought over 100 games to market across the layer-1 blockchains Solana and Ethereum, he added. “Although we’re still in the beginning stages of mass adoption for blockchain games, we believe that Magic Eden can add value here.”