By Andrew Hayward
Source: decrypt.co
Summary
Summary
Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game in which players purchase NFTs of little monsters and control them to fight.
Players can earn SLP tokens during the game and trade them for cash. This forms the game mode of "playing and earning".
NFT encrypted collectibles (such as artwork and videos) will become popular in early 2021, but before that, some blockchain-based decentralized games have already been born in this field.
When NFT became mainstream, the encrypted game Axie Infinity launched by independent studio Sky Mavis also became popular. And when all kinds of hype slowed down and the NFT market cooled down slightly, Axie Infinity became even more popular.
Inspired by the beloved Pokémon series developed by Nintendo, Axie Infinity allows players to collect cute little monsters and fight in cartoon scenes. But the game isn't very newbie-friendly, and the cost of participation isn't cheap (compared with PlayStation or Xbox games, players require a large upfront investment). The advantage is that players own Axie's NFTs and can resell them; in addition, its "earn while playing" mode allows players to make money directly with tokens.
It's a very bold vision for a game that's gaining traction right now. I will describe this game in detail below.
What is Axie Infinity?
Axie Infinity is a monster fighting game. In the game, players can manipulate a small monster named Axie to fight in groups.
Axie Infinity lets players collect cute monsters to battle. Image: Axie Infinity
The game runs on the Ethereum blockchain powered by Ronin, a sidechain that helps users lower transaction fees and reduce transaction delays. Most of the battles in Axie Infinity are turn-based, and the player's opponent may be the computer-controlled Axie clan, or other players online.
The props in the game are presented in the form of NFT. These encrypted and unique tokens can be linked to digital content. In Axie Infinity, digital content refers to Axie (little monster) and land in the game. Unlike traditional game props, NFT gives ownership to players, and players can trade Axie (little monsters) with real money in the game market.
You can buy and sell little monsters in the in-game marketplace Image: Axie Infinity
Players can also breed Axie to build stronger teams, and the resulting additional NFTs can be sold on the market. So far, the most expensive Axie NFT has sold for 300 ETH.
How to access Axie Infinity?
As mentioned before, Axie Infinity is built entirely around NFT items - right now, players cannot enter the game unless they purchase the NFT of the 3 Axies needed to create their first team.
Players can purchase NFTs from the official marketplace through the Ronin wallet, which is connected to Axie Infinity. Players can play the game on PC, Mac, Android or iOS and enter battles with purchased Axies to earn rewards.
What's so special about Axie Infinity?
Axie Infinity takes the interesting worldview of the Pokémon games and adds an element of "ownership" to it. These Axies belong to players and earn actual rewards - SLP tokens, which can be exchanged for money. The upfront investment required to purchase Axie makes many players reluctant to enter the game, but the game rewards players for investing more time and energy.
"Earn as you play" sounds like a gimmick or a marketing gimmick, but now, we're seeing players actually earning real money from the game.
For example, there are thousands of "Axie scholars" (Axie scholars) who make money by lending NFT to other players through projects such as Yield Guild Games. In countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, people play Axie Infinity to support their families. Whether the "play and earn" model is sustainable remains to be seen, but it has now been proven that it is a grand, revolutionary idea.
How to start playing Axie Infinity?
Before getting started, players are faced with a hurdle: they need to own 3 Axie NFTs in order to start playing Axie Infinity. As of July 23, the cheapest Axies on the market are around $225-$250 each. Players may need to spend at least $700 to get started and form a team. This is higher than the price of home video game consoles such as PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, and far higher than the unit price of any game software. However, Axie Infinity cannot be compared with these traditional games. Buying Axie is an investment, players can resell it, and these Axie can generate rewards in the game.
Players need to start by purchasing three Axies Image: Axie Infinity
At present, Axie Infinity has migrated assets from Ethereum to the Ronin sidechain. Players need to create a Ronin wallet and have an Ethereum wallet (such as MetaMask). Players with a Ronin wallet can use the Ronin bridge to transfer ETH to the Ronin sidechain. In Ronin, ETH will become wETH (wrapped ETH), and then players can use wETH to buy Axies.
Players can create an account on the Axie Infinity website, download the game to a PC or Mac, and also download the Android version to install on a smartphone or tablet. The game is currently being tested on iOS through Apple's TestFlight program, but as of this writing (July 23), the game has not been released on iOS.
No matter which version you choose, you need to pair the Ronin wallet with the account, and then sync the Axies from the wallet to the game.
What is AXS Token?
AXS (Axie Infinity Shard) is the native governance token of Axie Infinity. Currently, players can use AXS to pay for raising little monsters. In the future, AXS holders will be able to vote on matters related to the game and its future development direction, and can also earn rewards in the game by holding AXS tokens.
Over time, Axie Infinity plans to gradually transform into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) supporting community governance.
Where can I buy AXS?
OKEx has launched AXS/USDT trading, AXS leveraged trading, Yubibao and AXSUSDT perpetual contracts. You can log in to OKEx APP to purchase and trade.
How to buy AXS from OKEx?
In addition, trading is also available on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and SushiSwap.
Here's how to buy AXS on Uniswap: First, a crypto wallet with ETH or other ERC-20 tokens is required. If you don’t have ETH, you can transfer it to your wallet after buying it with legal currency on the exchange.
Connect the wallet in Uniswap, select AXS from the list, then select the asset category you want to exchange, such as ETH, and enter the amount, and Uniswap will automatically calculate how much AXS you can buy. If the number meets the user's expectations, they can click "Exchange" and the transaction will be completed.
The Future of Axie Infinity
In late June of this year, shortly after the official announcement of the migration to the Ronin sidechain and the $7.5 million Series A financing, Axie Infinity ushered in a burst of fire. Its core team, Sky Mavis, is also supported by publisher Ubisoft (Ubisoft mentored the team in its Startup Lab accelerator program and helped launch Ronin).
AXS tokens are up 600% in a month, with the game generating nearly $85 million in value in a single month between June and July. According to Sky Mavis, during the 7 days in July 2021, Axie Infinity generated more fees than Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to reports, as of mid-July, Axie Infinity had more than 500,000 daily active users.
However, the influx of players has also caused various server problems. DDOS attacks (that is, distributed denial of service attacks) initiate a large number of requests in a short period of time, exhaust server resources, and fail to respond to normal visits, causing the website to go offline. ) and some hosting issues compound the problem. NBA Top Shot faced similar issues when it quickly transitioned from a niche crypto project to something big, and it may take a while for Axie Infinity to get on the right track.
Sky Mavis Studios has launched a grand development plan for the game, including land-based NFT gameplay that allows players to customize development, which allows Axie Infinity to go beyond a single game experience of combat and cultivation.
The staking rewards of AXS will expire in the third quarter of 2021, and the alpha test of the land NFT gameplay will expire in the fourth quarter. In 2022, Axie Infinity will expand its AXS ecosystem through governance and an upgraded version of the "play and earn" model. In the first half of this year, all players can participate in land play.
Axie Infinity also plans to introduce a way to play without investing a large initial capital, by offering new users limited-money, non-transferable Axies.
