
In October 2018, the development team released Axie Infinity's first battle system.
Axie infinity land series#
Nguyen had previously spent money on the game CryptoKitties before he began work on his own blockchain-based game, combining elements of CryptoKitties with gameplay from the Pokémon series or Neopets. Development and history ĭevelopment of Axie Infinity commenced in 2017, led by its co-founder and CEO, Nguyen Thanh Trung, alongside Tu Doan, Aleksander Larsen, Jeffrey Zirlin, and Andy Ho. The delays have prompted complaints from users coinciding with a sharp decline in the profitability of the in-game economy. Gameplay related to purchased virtual land was intended to be introduced by 2020, but this has been pushed back twice as of April 2022. The record sale of a plot of virtual land was priced at US$2.3 million, as of 25 November 2021. Players of Axie Infinity can also purchase virtual land and other in-game assets as NFTs. The Philippine Department of Finance also clarified that income from playing Axie Infinity is taxable, and suggested that the SEC and BSP may classify its cryptocurrency as a currency or a security. Īs of June 2021, some people in the Philippines had begun to treat the game as their main source of income, although earning rates from playing Axie Infinity fell below the national minimum wage by September 2021. These commissions vary greatly but can be as high as 75%. These new players, known as "scholars", are often required to meet a quota of in-game earning to continue using the rented assets, and must pay the owners a commission. In the Philippines, the prohibitive cost of entry led to both individuals and gaming guilds renting out assets to allow new players meet the minimum requirements.

By August 2020, the cheapest Axie cost approximately US$307, although reports as of March 2022 suggest the floor price of an Axie has dipped to around US$20. In February 2020, Sky Mavis estimated that a new player would need to spend around US$400 to meet this starting requirement. This model has been described as a form of gambling, and one with an unstable market that is overly reliant on the inflow of new players. Axie Infinity allows users to cash-out their tokens every fourteen days. Sky Mavis marketed the game with a " play-to-earn" model (also called "pay-to-play-to-earn" model) where after participants pay the starting costs, they can earn an Ethereum-based in-game cryptocurrency by playing. The game has an in-game economy where players can buy, sell, and trade resources they earn in the game. Players aim to battle, breed, collect, raise, and build kingdoms for their Axies. The game's setting is filled with creatures called Axies that players can collect as pets. Gameplay Īccording to the company's website, Axie Infinity is a competitive game with an " idle battle" system derived from games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Idle Heroes. The hackers were linked to Lazarus Group, funded by North Korea. In March 2022, hackers compromised the Ronin Network, stealing approximately US$620 million worth of cryptocurrency from the project. The game's secondary token, SLP, crashed in February 2022 amid a wider NFT and cryptocurrency crash, losing over 99% of its peak value. The game's official Cryptocurrency is "Axie Infinity Shards/Token" or AXS for short. Īxie Infinity is built on the Ronin Network, an Ethereum-linked sidechain developed by Sky Mavis.


In September 2021, most Axie Infinity players were from the Philippines. Sky Mavis charges a 4.25% fee to players when they trade Axies on its marketplace. These creatures can be bred and battled with each other within the game. Players of Axie Infinity collect and mint NFTs which represent axolotl-inspired digital pets known as Axies. It has been called 'a pyramid scheme that relies on cheap labor from countries like the Philippines to fuel its growth.' Axie Infinity is a non-fungible token-based online video game developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis, known for its in-game economy which uses Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies.
