Los Angeles-based entertainment studio Feature.io announced today that it is developing Lollipop, an interactive, Web3 multimedia car racing experience with “The Fast and Furious” co-writer and “Suicide Squad” writer/director David Ayer attached as its writer and executive producer.

Chris Long—producer of the Ayer-directed film “The Tax Collector” and the “Mr. Mercedes” television series—is also attached to Lollipop, which will be built on Ethereum scaling network Polygon. Ayer and Long are both executives under their production shingle, Cedar Park Studios.

While many details regarding the project remain under wraps, Lollipop will involve Polygon-based NFTs, which Feature.io founder and CEO Steven Ilous prefers to call “digital collectibles” because of the negative stigma surrounding the acronym.

 gm from Decrypt

Gamers Will Drive Web3 Adoption: Polygon Labs President Ryan Wyatt

Many crypto builders see video games as the killer app for Web3, citing perceived benefits like ownership of in-game items as NFTs, possible interoperability between games, and the potential to profit from rising token and NFT values. But by and large, gamers aren’t buying it. Prominent NFT gaming efforts by firms like Ubisoft, Square Enix, and GSC Game World have faced backlash from outspoken video game fans. Critics point to shallow gameplay for early NFT games, crypto industry scams, and fal...

“We don’t really use the word NFTs,” Ilous told Decrypt in an interview. “But there’s digital collectibles, there is a streaming narrative component, and there is gamification.”

Ilous explained that he came up with the concept for Lollipop and pitched it to Ayer, whom Ilous said is “definitely a fan of the technology.” 

“I brought it to him as something that I felt could pioneer what future experiences could be,” Ilous said. “And he got it right away.”

Feature.io isn't billing Lollipop purely as a video game, but rather an "interactive media experience." The project will apparently “combine elements of episodic streaming, gaming, and professional sports,” according to a statement. That's vague, and we don't know enough yet to cleanly classify the experience, but Ilous describes Lollipop as something built to really grab hold of audiences through a hybrid media approach.

“We’re trying to really create next-generation content that is built for how audiences are consuming content these days,” Ilous told Decrypt.

While it’s not yet clear exactly how Lollipop will leverage NFTs, Polygon Labs President Ryan Wyatt called the project “truly pioneering” in a statement. 

“Feature is spearheading the future of storytelling and utilizing Polygon blockchain technology to create a completely new type of media,” Wyatt added.

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to clarify leadership at Cedar Park Studios.