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Axie Infinity, developed by Sky Mavis is a blockchain-operated play-and-earn card game that involves non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Axie Infinity is a game that operates on blockchain technology. In this game, players buy cute monster NFTs that they use in the in-game fights. During the gameplay, players can earn SLP tokens, which they can exchange for cash at a crypto exchange.
“Play-to-earn” is an emerging trend that involves players signing up for scholarship programs and academies to participate in the game.
How to Play the Axie Infinity Game?
Players must create accounts and connect them to access the digital marketplace. Users need three Axies to start playing the game. Another important aspect is the cost of an Axie, which can vary greatly based on factors such as rarity, experience, attributes, and type, with the average price fluctuating.
The least expensive Axies, known as “Floor Axies,” cost around $30, but they may not earn much for their owners as they are often weak in battle. A team of usable Axies can cost a few hundred dollars, while rare Mystic Axies can cost in the north of $1,000.
Who Created Axie Infinity?
Sky Mavis, led by Trung Nguyen, is the team behind the game. Sky Mavis has partnered with Directive Games, Tribes, Bali Games, and Bowled.io, as outlined in a statement sent to Cointelegraph.
Sky Mavis intends to upgrade to DPoS to open its infrastructure and technology to the wider Web3 world, resulting in more community-centric, engaging, and rewarding gaming experiences.
Kathleen Osgood, Sky Mavis’ head of business development, stated that the company reviewed 250 game studios before selecting its partners. The company chose studios from various niches in the gaming industry to ensure that it could onboard as many people as possible into its ecosystem.
The Challenges Faced by Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity has faced challenges regarding its economy’s sustainability and dependence on an inflation-prone system. The original reward system and the fact that new users had to pay to start playing the game meant a constant inflow of SLPs and Axies. That lowered the token’s value, adversely affecting players’ earnings.
Sky Mavis restricted the SLP reward system to the PVP game mode to address this issue. In essence, SLP is only available to players who win matchups. Moreover, in addition to this, the team opted to burn the SLPs used to breed new Axies, reducing the supply of the ERC20-based token further.
Unfortunately, Axie Infinity suffered the largest crypto exploit ever just when it was looking to turn the corner. Axie Infinity relied on a sidechain called the Ronin network for its transactions, and hackers exploited the loopholes in the system.
Ronin required the inputs of nine validators, with a minimum of five validators, to process transactions, unlike the Ethereum ecosystem, where thousands of validators are constantly engaged to keep the system resistant to attacks.
The Ronin Network team announced that the attacker used hacked private keys to forge fake withdrawals. They said this in their official report published on March 29, a week after the attack.
The hacker managed to gain control over five validator nodes. Following this, the hacker made two separate withdrawals, which allowed them to steal 173,600 ether and over 25.5 million USDC tokens. At the time of the theft, the total value of the stolen cryptocurrency was more than $625 million.
Sky Mavis Came Forward
Following this attack, Sky Mavis promised to compensate the affected users. The company has also increased the number of validators on the Ronin Network so that 10 out of 11 nodes are required to sign off on transactions. They also discussed introducing a circuit breaker system to prevent this type of attack on the network in the future.
Axie Infinity Joins Hand with GCrypto
A strategic alliance between Axie Infinity and GCrypto provides the Filipino Web3 gaming community a secure way to transfer their cryptocurrency from the Axie ecosystem to GCrypto within the GCash app.
Users can also convert in-game currencies into fiat money or Philippine pesos using the same application. GCrypto serves as a conversion portal for other games in Sky Mavis’ Ronin ecosystem, including Pixels, empowering the Filipino Web3 gaming community.
What is the Future of Blockchain Gaming
Blockchain gaming has revolutionized the gaming industry. Blockchains are designed to prevent a few corporations from having too much power in the gaming economy. It allows for easy participation, and gamers can use P2E or Play to Earn models to make money by playing games. Blockchains give players full control over their assets and allow them to monetize them through selling or utility.
Smart contracts can also ensure sovereignty and control over their assets through royalty schemes, reinforcing ownership through code-based functions rather than platform-governed promises. Gaming should be simple and cost-efficient, and blockchains can help achieve this. While the distributed consensus mechanism of blockchains may limit scalability, app chains, roll-ups, and sidechains can resolve this issue.
The EIP-4337 upgrade, which introduces account abstraction, makes the Web 3 gaming experience similar to the Web 2 gaming experience. As roll-ups and side chains mature, they could further improve scalability and interoperability and create a comprehensive gaming ecosystem on top of blockchains that maximize extractable value. This technological revolution is actively supported by players all around the globe, which is further heightening the future of blockchain gaming.
Summary
Axie Infinity faced challenges with its economy and inflation-prone system. The game’s reward system caused a constant inflow of tokens, lowering their value and affecting player earnings. The platform also suffered a major crypto exploit. Axie Infinity has partnered with GCrypto to provide a secure way to transfer cryptocurrency within the GCash app. Blockchain gaming has indeed brought a revolution into the gaming sector.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author or any people named in this article are for informational purposes only. They do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading in stocks, cryptos, or other related indexes comes with a risk of financial loss.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
