The blockchain gaming industry is growing rapidly and has gained popularity within the digital assets space.
Fortune Business Insights predicts that global blockchain gaming revenue will reach $614.91 Billion in 2030. This is a 21.8% compound annualized increase from the $154.46 Billion in 2023.
In 2020 and 2021, blockchain gaming became a powerhouse — not only because of how it incorporated DeFi into gameplay but also because of its growing connection with NFTs, which were quite the hot topic in those years.
CryptoKitties was the first game to combine blockchain with gaming and NFTs. It is a blockchain-based collectible cat game. CryptoKitties is one of the earliest examples of NFTs used in gaming. Many other projects built off of this idea. Virtual worlds, luxury fashion and AR are just a few of the industries that seem to be using digital assets.
Today, we're going to explore one such game. This Axie review will examine what makes Axie a key player in blockchain gaming.
We'll explore Axie Infinity's gameplay, economic model and aspects like its "Play-and-Earn" The model, the breeding mechanics as well as in-game tokens such Axie Infinity Shards AXS and Smooth Love Potion SLP.
Axie Infinity Review Summary
Axie Infinity by Sky Mavis is a game based on blockchain that revolves around Axies, collectible animals. It features a unique "Play-and-Earn" Model, in which players earn real value through battling, breeding and trading Axies. It is player-owned and the Ronin Network facilitates in-game trades.
Axie Infinity’s Key Features Include:
- Play-and-Earn Model: The game rewards players with real money for a variety of activities such as battling Axis and breeding them.
- Breeding mechanics Players can breed Axies with different genetic traits to create unique offspring, enhancing the game's economy and strategy.
- Ronin Network Integration: A Layer-2 Blockchain designed to support Axie Infinity, and third-party games development using a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), consensus mechanism.
- Player-Owned Economy: The focus is on transactions between players. All game items created by the player. Marketplace fees go to fund a community-controlled treasury.
- Play the Raylights minigame A minigame focused on land that lets players cultivate land, unlock recipes and expand the Axie Infinity world.
- In-Game Tokens: Uses Axie infinity shards (AXS), for governance and rewards and stake purposes, as well as Smooth Love Potion for breeding.
Axie Infinity Review
| The Developer | Sky Mavis |
|---|---|
| Launch Year | 2020 |
| Play the Main Game | Collection, Breeding, and Combating Axies |
| Earn by Playing Model | The game rewards players with real-money prizes for completing tasks, such as breeding, battling and playing. |
| Blockchain | Ronin Network is a blockchain compatible with Layer-2 EVMs. |
| In-Game Tokens | Smooth Love Potion, Axie Infinity Shards |
Blockchain and NFTs: A match made in heaven
In combining NFTs with gaming, both technologies are combined to provide new opportunities for developers, players and the entire gaming industry.
The True Ownership Of Digital Assets
NFTs introduce a new element to the gaming world: true ownership. The game developer retains ownership of in-game assets, even though players spend hours and dollars on them. With NFTs, players can have actual ownership of their in-game assets — whether it’s a rare sword or a unique character skin. They are digital assets that exist independent from any game. Players can trade, transfer, and even sell them between compatible platforms.
Play-to-Earn Opportunities
The NFTs also gave rise to another gaming model, play-to earn (P2E). Playing games can help players earn NFTs, or cryptocurrency. This allows them to turn a hobby into income. Axie Infinity has shown the P2E potential, as it allows players to earn money by playing games, particularly in developing nations.
Enjoy a unique and customizable experience
The NFTs provide endless possibilities for creativity and personalization in the gaming world. The blockchain allows players to customize and own unique avatars and items. Each item is authenticated and verifiable, adding to its value. Developers can create exclusive or limited edition content.
The Interoperability of Games
Interoperability is another benefit that NFTs can offer in the gaming industry. Imagine being able seamlessly transfer your character or weapon between games. This is possible with NFTs, since items and characters can be stored on the Blockchain and used in different games supporting the same standards.
Economies driven by players and communities
NFTs enable player-driven economies, where players can purchase, trade, or sell items, without intermediaries. Markets let players exchange their assets, creating an economy which is more engaging and lucrative than in-game shops. Moreover, the NFT allows for community development where users can share their content or vote on updates to games.
Axie Infinity: What is it?
Axie Infinity, a blockchain-based game developed by Sky Mavis revolves around Axies, collectible animals. The game allows players to own, trade, or battle the creatures. Each creature has its unique genetic code and traits. The game's foundation is built on a blockchain-based economic model, allowing for true ownership of digital assets.
Axie infinity is a multifaceted game that combines strategy, social interaction, and competition. Breeding allows the player to produce Axies that have specific combinations of body parts, enhancing the variety within the game. Players and collectors will enjoy the excitement of collecting Axies like Mystics and Origins.
Axie’s infinity has a distinctive look. “Play-and-Earn” model. Axie Infinity, unlike traditional games that require players to invest their time and money with no tangible return, rewards them for their contribution and skill. The resources that players can obtain have a real-world monetary value. This includes competing in battles and breeding Axies. It also includes creating content and art, as well as onboarding other players to the ecosystem.
DappRadar says Axie Infinity is the only wallet with 157,370 active wallets in 30 days. It also reports 3.23 million transactions and over $25,000,000 worth of volume.
Transactions take place via the Ronin Network. This is a Layer-2, EVM compatible blockchain built to scale Axie Infinity. The Axie Ecosystem hosts all digital assets and the network is now expanding to enable third-party development. Ronin uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), with RON being its native token. In March 2022 the Ronin Network, a network that is based in North Korea, was attacked and hacked for $620,000,000.
Axie Infinity gameplay
Axie is a digital pet world that allows players to breed, collect and battle Axies. These Axie NFTs serve as tickets for current and future Axie experiences.
Breeding Mechanics, Economy and Economies
Like real pets, Axies may be bred together to produce offspring. In order to maintain an even population, and avoid hyperinflation there are limits on how many times Axies can reproduce before they become sterile. The cost of breeding is a mixture of AXS Tokens and Smooth Love Potions. SLP can be earned by players participating in PvP Arena battles. Axie infinity does not sell SLP directly to the player.
Axie has genetic traits in six parts of the body, with three different types: dominant, minor recessive and recessive. The dominant genes determine the physical characteristics of an Axie. Recessive genes are passed along during breeding at varying rates. The breeding calculator can be used by players to make strategic decisions.
Economic Structure and Sustainability
Axie Infinity has a completely player-owned economic system, which focuses on direct player-to player transactions as opposed to the sale of in-game items. The Marketplace Fees are used to fund a Community Treasury that is managed by AXS Token holders. Sky Mavis, the developers of Sky Mavis, make money through ownership of AXS Tokens. These tokens represent an economic governance system. The Axies created by the players with in-game assets can be traded. This is similar to having a nation and its own economy.
The Axie eco-system is dependent on population growth. In order to keep the game accessible for new players, while also avoiding unhealthily high prices, it aims for a perfect inflation rate. The long-term viability of Axies will depend on adding new features like mini-games, land ownership and updates to game mechanics. This continuous development encourages players to feel a sense progress and value.
Axie Infinity: Raylights
Axie Infinity launched Raylights in AxieCon 2022 to take advantage of the growing popularity of metaverses for virtual land like The Sandbox, Decentraland and The Sandbox.
Raylights was the first mini-game for landowners available in Axie’s universe. The game was created in partnership with Quicksave Interactive and can be played straight from the browser, without downloading.
Play Game
The game begins with the player exploring Axies, a primitive civilization. They then learn how to cultivate land. In order to unlock recipes, the main gameplay revolves around sowing different minerals in order to grow plants. As you progress through the game, you will need to complete missions in order to unlock more minerals. You can also experiment with different combinations of minerals to reach aesthetic goals.
The Key Features
- Planting NurseryDrag and drop the minerals to a specific area in order to add plants to your plot.
- MineralsTen different minerals are available, such as Edenite Aqua Beastium. By completing the missions, players can earn more minerals. Different mineral combinations produce different plants. Certain plants also have more than one recipe.
Tokens Axie Infinity
Two in-game tokens are available for the Axie universe:
- Smooth Love Potion
- Axie Infinity Shards
Smooth Love Potion
Axie Infinity is not a seller of Smooth Love Potions. In the PvP Arena, you can earn Smooth Love Potions instead. After you’ve earned them, they can be synced to your wallet.
SLP fell in value by more than 99% during the cryptocurrency and NFT crash of February 2022. And while Sky Mavis pulled levers to try and stabilize the price, those efforts weren't very effective. Many players quit the game due to the low value of SLP.
Axie Infinity Shards
AXS, the native token for Axie Infinity, is released in a set schedule of 65 months after the October 2020 public sale. The total supply of AXS is capped to 270 million.
Tokenomics
- Enjoy Playing and Earning: The issuance of 54 million AXS (20%) will begin in the first-second quarters of 2021.
- Earning Rewards by Staking: In Q1 and Q2 of 2021, the AXS issuance will start.
- Ecosystem Fund 2,16 million AXS (8%) – Unlocked tokens and locked tokens.
- Sky Mavis Developers: 56,7 million AXS (21%). Some tokens are unlocked and some others locked.
- Advisors: 18,9 Million AXS (7%) Some tokens are unlocked and some others locked.
- Public Sale 29,7 Million AXS (11%) Unlocked
- Private Sale Unlocked tokens: 10.8 millions (4%)
Where can I buy AXS products?
AXS is available on the following Exchanges:
- Binance
- Byte
- OKX
- KuCoin
Read our list of top cryptocurrency exchanges.
Crypto Gaming: Will it be a Mass Market Game?
Web3 Gaming is one of the fastest-growing sectors in decentralized apps, but there are still many challenges to overcome:
- Players Onboarding and accessibility: More than half the respondents to a Blockchain Gaming Alliance survey (BGA), cited access and onboarding barriers as being major obstacles for adoption. Players need to manage wallets, deal with seed phrases, and navigate complex processes—significantly raising the entry barrier compared to traditional games.
- The Game Design Issues P2E games often revolve around NFTs or tokens. They are designed to focus on the financial reward rather than player experience. This model could alienate players who are more interested in games for enjoyment than financial gain.
- Poor Gameplay Experience: A lot of crypto games do not deliver an engaging gameplay. In a BGA survey, 37.2% of respondents said that poor gameplay was a major reason behind low adoption. In many blockchain games, the focus is on monetization, rather than fun, challenge and strategy. This reduces player satisfaction.
- Securities Concerns The risks of trading crypto assets on centralized markets include smart contract vulnerabilities, phishing attacks and data privacy issues. Vulcan forged was breached in 2021, resulting in a $140,000,000 loss.
You can read our article to learn more. In it, we dissect and analyze the mechanics of these play-to-earn virtual worlds. Then, we examine the obstacles that have prevented their growth, as well as explore the solutions that may pave the path for the integration of such games into traditional gamer’s daily life.
Axie infinity Review: Final Thoughts
Axie Infinity combines NFTs with the "play-and-earn" Model that allows players to own digital assets as well as earn real world earnings.
The game's multifaceted mechanics, including breeding Axies, battling, and community-driven economies, have established it as a major player in the blockchain gaming space. It also faces challenges, such as the volatility of token prices, security issues, and difficulties in onboarding new users due to blockchain technology.
Axie and similar gaming projects must address these issues as the blockchain continues to develop. They will then be able to gain broader support and achieve sustained success.
Common Questions
Axie Infinity: What is it?
Axie Infinity, a game based on blockchain developed by Sky Mavis, revolves around Axies – collectible animals. These creatures can be collected, bred, and fought by players, earning them in-game prizes with real-world values.
What are the "Play-and-Earn" model in Axie Infinity?
It is important to note that the word “you” means “you”. “Play-and-Earn” Model allows players to gain cryptocurrency as well as in-game items, such Axie Shards and Smooth Love Potion, by participating in tasks like fighting, breeding or completing game activities.
What Are Axies
Digital creatures, Axies represent NFTs with genetically unique traits. These Axies are available for players to collect, breed and fight, as well as buy, sell or trade on the Blockchain.
Axie Infinity uses what blockchain?
Axie Infinity utilizes the Ronin Network. This is a Layer-2 Blockchain developed by Sky Mavis. The Ronin Network is designed to support third-party games and scale Axie Infinity.
Axie Infinity – Can I earn money from it?
Players can earn cryptocurrency when they participate in game activities such as breeding, fighting, or completing tasks. Earnings are dependent on various factors including market conditions, token prices and skills.
Axie Infinity Shards: Where to buy?
AXS is available on all major cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance Bybit OKX and KuCoin.