Pudgy Penguins strikes major IP and merchandising deal with Walmart

Pudgy Penguins  has announced a merchandising deal with retail giant Walmart that will introduce its IP to the megastore’s shelves in over 2,000 stores.

The Pudgy Toys—plush collectibles that will now be sold alongside legacy brands in Walmart’s brick-and-mortar stores—will offer access Pudgy World, a digital social experience on zkSync Era.

Said Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins:

“Pudgy Penguins is at the forefront of transforming the toy industry, merging unique digital experiences with blockchain technology, like Ethereum and zkSync… Walmart’s inclusion of Pudgy Toys in their stores is a testament to the evolution of how consumers engage with brands in the digital era.

Pudgy World

The Pudgy Toys stocked in Walmart provide consumers with access to the multiplayer digital environment of Pudgy World, enabling 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 singular traits for their digital Forever Pudgy character in Pudgy World.

Furthermore, the toy designs incorporate attributes based on IPs from globally recognized NFT collections, including Meebits and DeGods, thereby providing IP royalties to corresponding NFT holders for each toy sold.

Brittany Smith, Vice President of Merchandising – Toys at Walmart U.S., explained that the consumer desire for innovative trends drove the decision to stock Pudgy Penguins’ products. She said:

“We know our customers are looking for the latest trends and innovation to gift themselves or a loved one. Pudgy Penguins is bridging the gap between our physical and digital worlds of play for kids in a really engaging way and their price point is right in line with our goal of providing Every Day Low prices. I’m excited to add them to our assortment!”

Pudgy World is built on zkSync, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, allowing for faster and cheaper transactions. It operates using zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups, a mechanism through which most computations are done off-chain but verified on the main Ethereum chain. This ensures the same security level as Ethereum but at a fraction of the cost. Currently, zkSync is managed by its own team, but plans are in place to make it decentralized.