Last Updated 02/03/2022
If you are looking for a comprehensive Axie Infinity Review or you consider buying an Axie NFT, look no further. This article covers every aspect of the game!
Axie Infinity is a turn-based, play as you earn the NFT driven game. The Axie team spearheaded the drive to prove the potential and demand for blockchain technology in gaming. Furthermore, the development of blockchain-based games unlocked the possibilities of play-to-earn gaming.
Play-to-Earn is a concept where participants can earn while playing games. Game developers make a fortune(actual money) from the industry, yet the players’ rewards are mostly intangible, like entertainment, achievement, community, etc. In-game assets allow players to own and control their assets. Blockchain-based assets afford their owners the ability to freely trade or swap items with whomever they choose. This is in direct contrast to closed platform titles like Call of Duty for example.
Summary of the G-CRYPT Axie Infinity Review 2022
- Axies are characters in the Axie Infinity metaverse game. The characters take the form of Pokémon-like playable monsters.
- Each character is represented by an NFT
- Axie is the creative product of Vietnam-based Sky Mavis
- Earning with Axie is possible through trading, breeding and scholarships
Index | Jump Straight to the Axie Infinity Review Content You Need
- What is Axie Infinity?
- How does it work?
- Who created Axie?
- How to start playing Axie infinity
- Where do you get an Axie?
- Axie Infinity Review Under the Hood
- Can you make money?
- What can go wrong?
- Conclusion
What Is Axie?
Usually, an Axie Infinity review mostly describes it as a Pokemon-like game where you have digital pets called Axies instead of Pokémon monsters. Like Pokémon, Axie Infinity is a turn-based game and characters have different characteristics and effects on each other. This is pretty much where the similarities end. The Axie avatars are actual NFTs. Moreover, AXS and SLP are cryptocurrency tokens that exist on a blockchain. Players can now extract monetary value directly from playing the game.
Traditionally game studios make money by selling the games(pay-to-play), think Mario brothers or arcade games. The dynamic then shifted towards selling in-game items or benefits in free-to-play games such as Fortnite for example. The Axie Infinity ecosystem allows the game studio to make money from fees on in-game activities such as breeding Axies or trading on the marketplace.
The result is both the developers and players have a direct economic incentive to grow the community. In 2021 the game produced $1.3B in revenue and trading on the marketplace was worth just over $4B in volume. (source: https://pro.nansen.ai/axie)
How does it work?
We would simply describe it as a Pokémon & Hearthstone cocktail, topped with a squeeze of Dungeons & Dragons. The gameplay is simple. You breed characters and use characters in quests against the platform or battles against other players. We have divided the gameplay into three sections for the Axi Infinity Review 2022. They are Battling, Breeding and Owning Axie.
1. Battling
This is a turn-based game so don’t expect Call of Duty like battle scenes. The design is pretty good but ultimately this is a turn-based card game. Battling Axies against each other, like Pokémon, involves comparing attributes and picking a winner based on the requirements for that round.
There are two game modes namely Adventure and Arena. Both game modes require players to have a team of 3 Axies to take part. Players have to select their desired team before entering either game mode.
Adventure (PvE)
Adventure is the player versus environment (PvE) mode in Axie Infinity. This is a bit like a starter or training mode. Players can familiarise themselves with their Axie’s and their skill sets. In this mode, players can gain experience points as well as level up their Axies. However, the level of their Axies does not carry over to the arena mode. It is purely for adventure doing in-game quests. In addition, players can also put their bred and raised Axies to in-game tests.
Arena (PvP)
The Arena mode is the player versus player (PvP) mode and more importantly, the core focus of the game. The system will match players against each other using their matchmaking rating (MMR). If you win, your MMR will increase and vice versa. Furthermore, the Arena will reward the winner with SLP tokens. In addition, the top 300,000 players of the season will receive mAXS, a denomination of the AXS Token (1 AXS = 1000 mAXS).
2. Breeding
The game studio does not create and sell in-game items. In contrast, the players create the Axies and trade them amongst themselves. They do this through a process called breeding. To explain further, they breed 2 Axies along with some AXS tokens and SLP tokens to produce a “new Axie”. Each Axie has 7 opportunities to breed with another Axie and produce offspring. Furthermore, you cannot breed Axies from the same parents.
Axies have different traits which result in various levels of rarity. The traits of a newly bred Axie will be a mix of the traits inherited from the parents. As a consequence, players can calculate the probability of a specific outcome. They can do this using 3rd party breeding simulators like Axie Zone.
In late 2021, there were approximately 99 000 Axies bred and around 5000 new Axie holders a day. Recently(Q1 2022), the numbers have come down slightly, hovering around the 6500 Axies and roughly 150 new holders per day.
3. Owning
The simplest way to play Axie Infinity is to buy and sell Axies. This is not so much a game as it is investment speculation. The NFT market, whilst fraught with scams, has made quite a few legitimate millionaires. Axie Infinity has a buoyant marketplace and is credited with the most successful NFT series in terms of $dollar volume traded. Industry experts believe the total trading to be $4b since it launched.
You can also “rent” out your Axie for a fee and even charge a fee to breed with other Axie.
Axie Infinity (AXS)
Who Created Axie
We turn our Axie Infinity review to the people behind Axie Infinity. Sky Mavis, led by Trung Nguyen, is the game studio behind the platform. They are based in Vietnam. The other co-founders are Aleksander Leonard Larsen(COO), Jeffrey Zirlin(Marketing), Tu Doan(Art & Designer), and Viet Anh Ho(CTO). The team were OG’s in Crypto Kitties so the path to creating Axie Infinity in 2018 was a natural one.
There are many pretenders to the throne and Axie is not the only game in town. They do however have a first-mover advantage, being one of the first true play-to-earn based blockchain gaming platforms. Other notable platforms are The Pit, Nifty Royale and most recently Warlands.io
Where do You Get One?
You buy Axies from the Axie marketplace or you can opt to play with other people’s Axies through the scholarship program.
Players have created 11.1m Axies to date(FEB 2022), which are held in 2.8m unique addresses. Moreover, 97% of those addresses hold at least 3 Axies. Incidentally, this is also the minimum number of Axies required to play in Arena or Adventure Mode.
The number of addresses holding 4 or more Axies is also on the increase. Nearly doubling from Aug ’21(8%) to Feb ’22(16%). You should note that the price of an AXIE has also dropped over the same timeframe.
We Review Axie Infinity Under the Hood
The game operates on the Ronin network, which is an Ethereum sidechain. You store all your assets in this side chain. This includes Smooth Love Potion (SLP), Axie Infinity Shard (AXS) as well as Axie NFT s.
You should look at SLP as a type of in-game currency. It’s the in-game currency that players can earn by playing the game. AXS in contrast operates more like stocks in a company. AXS grants its holders governance rights and holders can vote on proposals. Players are also able to earn AXS in-game should they rank within the top 300,000of all players in the arena mode (PVP).
Interface
The user interface, design and overall feel of the games are fairly basic when compared to AAA titles like Fortnite or GTA. However, the Play-to-Earn element makes this an attractive game title. You can earn real money, by earning AXS or SLP and converting it to Ether, which has a liquid FIAT(government money) market and can easily be exchanged. This may be a bit of a long-winded process and the download coming from the official website as opposed to the APP store or Google Play is not ideal.
The team can improve the interface a lot, but are restricted by economic incentives of self-publication and restrictions imposed on app stores. Combining the game and the Ronin wallet in a cross-platform app available on the Windows, IOS and Android stores is still the option with the least friction but players seem to put up with the hurdles as a result of the Play-to-Earn offering.
We Review The 4 Steps To Get Started With Axie Infinity
So you want to get involved with Axie Infinity, but do not know where to get started? There are 4 steps which are 1)creating a wallet, 2)buying Axies, 3)creating an account, and 4)downloading the software. The developers and design team did a great job with the onboarding UI/UX. I highly recommend going through the process once you are done reading the Axie Infinity Review 2022.
- Create a Wallet
- Buy Axies
- Create a Player Account
- Download and Install the Software
Step 1. How to Set Up a Crypto Account and Wallet
As a player, you have to set up a Ronin wallet on your mobile or install it as a browser extension on your desktop. You can find many step-by-step guides to setting up a Ronin wallet with a simple google search. This will enable you to interact with the Axie Infinity marketplace.
You can download the Ronin Wallet for Android here. Additionally, the Firefox browser extension is available here, or you can opt for the Chrome Ronin Wallet browser extension.
For our Axie Infinity review 2022, we won’t go into more detail, suffice to say that transacting is still an area of friction for NFTs as well as for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Step 2. Buying Your First Set of Axies
You buy and sell Axie NFT s on the marketplace in wrapped ETH (WETH). First, you need to deposit ETH into your Ronin Wallet using the official bridge. Alternatively, you can also purchase it with FIAT using Ramp(not available in certain jurisdictions).
A further option you have is using a Binance account. Binance already has Ronin network integration. Consequently, users can purchase AXS or SLP directly on Binance and send it straight to their Ronin wallet. They can then swap it for WETH on Ronin’s official DEX, Katana.
Step 3. Creating Your Account
You need to sign into the marketplace with your Ronin wallet. Once you are logged in you can create an official in-game account under your user profile. Players can access the marketplace without an account but need one to play the game.
Step 4. Downloading and Installing the Game on Your Desktop or Mobile
Axie Infinity is a cross-platform game. This means that you can download the game to your desktop or play it on a mobile using the Android or IOS mobile app. You can download the Axie Infinity application from the official website here.
Axie Infinity Review – Earning Opportunities
The media have published many success stories from rural areas in the Philippines for example. They may unfortunately only be anecdotal evidence of the real earning potential of Axie Infinity. Nonetheless, they stretch from stories of players feeding their whole family to some participants being able to buy land and houses.
An underrated benefit, whilst not directly cashable is the education element. Players spend time to learn about the environment and the technology and can indirectly earn money from sharing their knowledge. This can be anything from writing tutorials to hosting online classes. Furthermore, there is always the option of trying to get into a team and earning an allowance as a sponsored player.
Limitations to How Much You can Earn
As we mentioned previously, you earn AXS or SLP by completing quests or through other in-game activities. The downside is that there are limits. The developers have restricted the amount you can earn for each activity in the game, which is partly why Axie owners become team owners.
You need to spend time and effort to earn decent money by simply playing the game. For example, you would need to complete the daily check-in task, complete 10 adventure mode levels and win at least 5 P-v-P matches to earn 50 SLPs.
The popularity of NFTs and Blockchain Technology
Blockchain Technology and lately more specifically NFTs have been getting their fair share of attention from mainstream media. Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing and sometimes leads to a bubble in a particular market. This can cause overvaluation of the asset and subsequently lead to a correction which could be drastic.
Another problem in the same vein is that these NFTs have their value pegged to volatile cryptocurrencies, which in turn makes it very difficult to scale. No one can accurately model the cost of scaling an operation as there are too many variables. One downside of decentralised currencies is that there aren’t any tools or mechanisms like inflation for example, that can keep the currency stable.
The environmental effect resulting from the use of blockchain technology is a further cause for concern. Even though proposed consensus mechanisms like proof-of-stake is in development, they are still far from being ready for implementation.
A major Drawback is the High Cost of Starting Axie Infinity
You will find that the most common concern with Axie Infinity is the high cost of getting started. As with everything, early joiners were able to get going for less than $400. That is not the case anymore, and purchasing 3 Axies, will set you back $1000 or more. As we previously mentioned you require at least 3 Axie NFTs to get started.
The loophole is to play with someone else’s money. That means playing with other people’s Axies and sharing the proceeds with them. In the Philippines, there are many anecdotal stories of people earning a living doing this. I think these opportunities do exist but require all the stars to be aligned for most people to play Axie Infinity for a living. It is up to the individual to review the potential and suitability.
Some Axie owners have built teams of sponsored players who they entrust to play their Axies on their behalf. Finding such an owner is not an easy task, let alone convincing them to let you join their team. As a consequence, you should not look at this method as an easy way to get started. To be honest I see this as more of a technical rebuttal to the concern surrounding the high cost of entry.
Coming Soon…
The company has structured the game as an open-ended digital pet universe. This translates into a platform that will evolve in its gameplay and functionality in the future. Their intent is clearly to create an immersive digital platform using blockchain technology.
The platform is cross-compatible making it accessible to a large audience. This allows it to attract more users and create further avenues for future expansion and development. We think the success of the PvE concept will make this feature a core component of the product.
V3 Update: “Origin”
Everyone is waiting for the next major update in excitement! The version 3 update has been dubbed “Axie Infinity: Origin“. The developers have completely refreshed a large portion of the game, improved graphics and game mechanics with this update. The producers are actively pushing to make Axie Infinity available on both Android and IOS application stores. As a consequence, even more, players will be able to access the platform with less friction.
Furthermore, there are also rumours concerning land gameplay. Commentators expect this improvement towards the end of the year. This functionality will enable real-world PvE battles which include group strategy battles, offering a more social experience. This will eventually lead to players building on top of their land leading to unique experiences for other players.
Additionally, Sky Mavis has created a builders program. The purpose of which is to fund community developers interested in furthering Axie projects and mini-games like Axie WarKart.
What will you build? pic.twitter.com/iJ68elLOHo
— Axie Infinity🦇🔊 (@AxieInfinity) February 22, 2022
What can go wrong?
You need to be careful and exercise restraint. An Axie NFT is still prone to overvaluation and also hyperinflation, like all other NFTs. Furthermore, cryptocurrencies are volatile. Individuals should evaluate their risk appetite when investing real money in the game.
It is also important for you to assess the whole market. Specifically game functionality or rule changes and offerings from new entrants.
We review the Axie Infinity Pyramid Scheme Accusation?
This is a bit more complicated. I cannot provide a clear opinion on this within the context of the Axie Infinity Review 2022. I will post a dedicated article on this in the near future. For the moment my belief is there is no pyramid scheme because there is no direct recruitment element. However, the main issue I see is the long-term sustainability. It would appear that the majority of players joining are doing so in order to make money.
In order for you to make money, someone else needs to part with money. Who is that someone else in the world of Axie Infinity, if they are not new players?
Our Axie Infinity Review Conclusion
The Axie Infinity Review concludes with a few final thoughts. Firstly, the company keeps working on growing and creating new experiences for players. New updates already promise a completely different angle of gameplay via new game mechanics such as buying or selling land.
Secondly, Axie Infinity is on the bleeding edge of the new and evolving play-to-earn market. Axie NFT based games are completely changing the way we think of games. A stark contrast to the traditional gaming space which confined assets to a single platform.
Lastly, I like the fact that another advantage of this game is that the value of the cryptocurrencies used in the game is based on a fair market price. Axie Infinity is a legitimate play-to-earn game based on NFT and blockchain technology – FOR THE MOMENT. For me, the size of the community and the record-breaking sales are good indicators that it has a solid digital ecosystem. They do not an urgent dose of reality though in terms of long term sustainability.
Early adopters will indeed benefit from Axie Infinity as it is one of the first NFT based games.
The only question to ask is whether or not you can still be an early adopter?
Please leave us your thoughts or comments below!
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