NFT Guide: What is Axie Infinity?
This article explains what is Axie Infinity, a brief history behind the blockchain game, the SLP and AXS token, and how to start playing the game.
🕹️ What Is Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is a monster fighting game where you can create a group of cute monsters named Axies to fight each other against other players. The game runs on the Ethereum blockchain with the help of Ronin, a sidechain that helps minimize fees and transaction delays. It is primarily focused on turn-based combat, whether it's against a computer-controlled Axie team or fighting opponents over the internet.
The game exploded in late June 2021, shortly after Ronin transformed and announced a US$7.5 million Series A financing with Mark Cuban, Alexis Ohanian, and other well-known investors. Sky Mavis, the technology-focused game studio behind the game is also supported by top game publisher Ubisoft, and Ubisoft advised the team on the Entrepreneur's Lab accelerator program and helped launch Ronin. According to Sky Mavis, within 7 days of July 2021, Axie Infinity incurred more fees than Bitcoin or Ethereum protocols. This is due to Axie Infinity's daily active users exceeding 500,000.
Game items are represented as NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens. These unique tokens can be linked to digital content. In the case of Axie Infinity, Axies are NFTs that fill the game’s terrain. Unlike regular items in legacy gaming, the Axie NFT gives players ownership; you can trade real money for Axies on the game market. The Axies can be bought using $ETH, and the main in-game currency is $SLP (Small Love Potion) tokens can be earned by playing the game. This digital asset serves as a replacement for experience points. SLP are ERC-20 tokens, and they can be used to breed new Axies. $AXS on the other hand is also part of the Axie Infinity metaverse.
It’s a governance token that players will be able to stake to earn more, aside from also being a season reward. The value of AXS tokens increased by 600% in one month, and the game made nearly $85 million in one month from June to July. According to Sky Mavis, within 7 days of July 2021, Axie Infinity incurred more fees than Bitcoin or Ethereum protocols. According to reports, as of mid-July, Axie Infinity's daily active users exceeded 500,000.
🎮 How To Start?
As mentioned above, Axie Infinity is completely based on the NFT project. Unless you buy the three Axie NFTs needed to build your first team, you can't play the game. The Axies can be purchased from the official Axie Marketplace through your Ronin wallet and you will be connected to the game. You can play games on PC, Mac, Android, or iOS and let Axies enter the battle to earn rewards.
😃 Let’s Start!
You need three Axie NFTs to start playing Axie Infinity. At the time of writing, the most affordable Axies on the market are priced at approximately $225 USD to $250 USD each. You can spend $700 or more to build a beginner team. This is more expensive than PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X consoles, let alone any legacy games on the market! The reason many players spend this much to play a game is that Axies can be resold for a similar value, as long as market conditions are favorable. There is also a ‘breeding’ game mechanism that allows you to sell any pets that you create with different axies. The most expensive Axie ever sold came to 300 ETH, or about $738,156 USD in today’s prices.
Now that Axie Infinity has migrated Ethereum assets to its Ronin sidechain, you will need to create a Ronin wallet and own an Ethereum wallet (such as MetaMask). After setting up the Ronin wallet, you can use the Ronin bridge to transfer ETH to Ronin, where it becomes wETH (wrapped ETH). Then you can use it to buy Axies.
Create an account on the Axie Infinity website and download the game on your PC or Mac. You can also download the Android APK to install on your smartphone or tablet. The game can also be used on iOS via the beta version of Apple’s TestFlight program but is currently unavailable at the time of writing. No matter which version you choose, you need to pair your Ronin wallet with your account, and then sync your Axies from the wallet to the game to start playing.
⌛ Conclusion
As Axie Infinity becomes increasingly popular, it has led to widespread server problems, which were exacerbated by DDOS attacks and hosting issues. This is similar to the problem faced by NBA Top Shot, because it quickly transformed from a niche crypto project to a large enterprise, and it may take a while for the game to stabilize. Sky Mavis has developed a broad roadmap for future games, including adding games based on its current NFTs, allowing players to customize terrains, develop and share experiences in the metaverse. This is another aspect that helped expand Axie Infinity, not just fighting monsters and raising them.
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