Down the Rabbit Hole - Rise of Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is rapidly making its presence known as a play to earn NFT game among the gamers and it's phenomenal how the community is responding and making cute axies their virtual pets. In the past few weeks, everyone is praising Axie Infinity and the stats are off the charts. In this segment, we try to break down Axie Infinity's stellar performance.

Axie Infinity Supasses NBA Top Shot, Sorare and other NFT games in Sales

Last week, Axie Infinity experienced a bullish sales curve totalling around $24Million, leaving the NBA Top Shot, Sorare, and other NFT games behind. It was about 572.30% up in the last 30 days.

The game itself is not new; it came into inception in 2018, but recently in June, it had a spike in sales. The credit to a sudden surge can go to the recent fundraise done by Sky Mavis for AxieInfinity closing at $8.75 million led by renowned shark Mark Cuban and other heavy-weight investors. But this isn't all, it sure can be one of the many reasons for the sales spike, but there are many other factors in play that contribute to such a ripple.

AxieInfinity becomes a living for many through its Play to Earn Mechanics

The X factor that comes along while playing AxieInfinity is earning SLP (Small Love Potion) ERC-20 tokens. Players earn it by engaging with battle and adventure modes in-game. These tokens hold a significant power to breed the digital creature axies.

Since January 2021, the price for SLP has leaped the humble start at 0.01$ to reaching an all-time high of 0.41$ in the first week of May, which is more than a 1000% increase.

These tokens are made available to trade on leading exchanges like Binance and Uniswap. Currently, there are four pairs (ETH, WETH, USDT, BUSD) that players can use to exchange their SLP tokens.

During the covid crises and lockdowns, people turned to AxieInfinity for making their livelihood sailing. For example, in the Philippines, there are many families currently playing the game to earn SLP tokens and then swap them for their native currency. A documentary from Play-to-Earn details how players discovered the game, and now it has become an integral part of income. Watch it here.

AxieInfinity Scholarships to Get Started

Getting started with NFT games is always a challenge for neophyte web3 gamers. With AxieInfinity, players are to form a team comprising three aixes. Currently, a single axie costs $113, which can be a barrier for many players to get started with the gameplay.

Now to get around this, community members and other players, in general, started a scholarship program. It lets you start playing the game without purchasing axies. Here other players rent their Axies (NFTs) to the Scholarship recipient, and as per the terms, players get training from different experienced players and do revenue sharing, etc.  There's also a dedicated channel for Scholarships on the Axie Discord server.

Exploring the Engaging Gameplay of AxieInfinity Universe

A total of 283,783 axies were in supply, with 45,263 active wallets (users) in April'21. Later, AxieInfinity shifted to Ronin — an Ethereum-linked sidechain made specifically for Axie Infinity in the first week of May'21.

This transit was excitedly welcomed by the community, resulting in the addition of 3X more players as currently, the figure is 157,844 for players with a total supply of 794,070 AXIE (Source: Ronin by Axie Team). It is evident to grow a lot in the upcoming months as the game advances to gain a massive following.

Right after you get a hold of your first Axie, it's imperative to level up to get higher rewards. It can be done by battling, going on adventures, and breeding axies. Further, players can use EXP to upgrade axies with more powerful moves, even changing their appearance.

Like Pokemon, axies can be of different classes, such as Bird, Aquatic, Beast, Bug, etc. Players can get an advantage over some types of axies and attacks in battles. Such game dynamics offer a wide area of exploration making gameplay more enjoyable and immersive.

Summing Up:

A mix of Play-to-Earn model, adorable axies, and engaging & dynamic gameplay makes AxieInfinity the people's favorite NFT game.