Pudgy Penguins does have that announced a merchandising deal with retail giant Walmart, which will bring its intellectual property to the megastore’s shelves in more than 2,000 stores.
The Pudgy Toys – plush collectibles now sold alongside legacy brands in Walmart’s physical stores – will provide access to Pudgy World, a digital social experience on zkSync Era.
Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins, said:
“Pudgy Penguins is leading the way in transforming the toy industry, merging unique digital experiences with blockchain technology, such as Ethereum and zkSync…Walmart’s inclusion of Pudgy Toys in their stores is a testament to the evolution of the way consumers interact with brands in the digital age.
Pudgy world
The Pudgy Toys in stock at Walmart provide consumers with access to Pudgy World’s digital multiplayer environment, allowing users to interact, engage in gaming activities and customize the Forever Pudgy character. Each toy comes with a unique ‘birth certificate’ that users can use to claim special abilities for their digital Forever Pudgy character in Pudgy World.
Additionally, the toy designs include attributes based on IPs from globally recognized NFT collections, including Meebits and DeGods, providing IP royalties to corresponding NFT holders for each toy sold.
Brittany Smith, Vice President of Merchandising – Toys at Walmart US, explained that consumer desire for innovative trends drove the decision to stock Pudgy Penguins products. She said:
“We know that our customers are looking for the latest trends and innovations to gift themselves or a loved one. Pudgy Penguins bridges the gap between our physical and digital play world for children in a really engaging way and their price point is right in line with our goal of offering low prices every day. I’m happy to add them to our range!”
Pudgy World is built on zkSync, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, which enables faster and cheaper transactions. It works using zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups, a mechanism by which most computations are performed off-chain but authenticated on the main Ethereum chain. This guarantees the same level of security as Ethereum, but at a fraction of the cost. Currently zkSync is managed by its own team, but there are plans to make it decentralized.