Community, we missed a comms cycle. Sorry ‘bout that. We’ve been grinding away to prepare for the long haul and future of our ecosystem.

‍Consider this the first outline of our shift to a renewed focus. With a restructure of product, support, and communication teams and clear path to delivery, progress will be tracked and more frequent dev insight and updates will be shared through blogs, Discord, and socials.

First things first

The fundamental short-term objective is to make ZED RUN:

• more accessible
• re-balance the game mechanics
• distribute the “fun” back to every single stable owner.

We know - it’s hard to get started. Onboarding is rough. The learning curve is high. And the races feel skewed to the ‘bigger stables’ only. And now we are entering what is possibly the next crypto winter. This is no different to where we were in January 2019 when we just launched ZED RUN. But we’re here. We’ve been through it before and we were born from it. 

What does this mean?

We will be asking ourselves all the hard questions before rolling out new updates. Questions like: Will this improve the game or will this attract new players, new stable owners? How will this increase engagement? Does it spark fun? Will Danshan roast us on Twitter?

Answers to these questions ultimately determine and set our focus.

Q2 Priorities

In preparation for the coming integration of the ZED Token, our product team is working to maximise utility, growth opportunities and accessibility including:

• Signups over Unique Website visits - implementing Social Logins to enable new stable owners to join ZED RUN using social media platforms. This will provide more options for current and new stable owners to access the game.
  
• Activations over Signups - removing barriers for racehorse ownership (trial racehorses + P2P (player to player) lending). This will give players who are priced out of racehorses an entry point to play. It also minimises the time it takes to engage and have fun in trials.
  
• Retention of Activated Users - providing consistent engagement through Live Operations tools, experimentation, and trying to cater to as many users in all classes as possible.

Cutting to the Chase

In short, our Q2 focus is clear: we are removing barriers to entry, making it easier for new users to join, buy or borrow racehorses, fill paid races and create greater diversity in the ecosystem overall. 

What’s coming this week? Filters and a socket fix to remove gates within free races as racehorses are entered. You will be able to:

• find races more quickly 
• resolve the conflicting gate issues in free races. 

What’s next? Product updates will return with frequency and a bit more fun as the team prepares to roll out the Dev Diaries. 

Mark your calendars for next week as the community joins an AMA with Director of Product, Facundo Carril and Co-Founder Geoff Wellman. 

ZED Headz, Thank You

You are unmatched – not just in the Web3 space but as a community at large. You’ve helped us grow rapidly, organically, and most importantly, passionately. We love your stats, your streams, and even your FUD. We have been building in front of you, with you, and alongside you since the first hello in Discord. 

As we often say, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We aren’t going to stop until we start delivering on the promise of one day letting our community govern ZED RUN in its entirety. 

ICYMI: ZED RUN AMA with CTO Jason Melo and Co-Founder Rob Salha