Axie Infinity is an Ethereum-based blockchain game inspired by Pokemon and powered by NFTs that allows players to breed and battle digital pets called Axies.

The non-fungible token (NFT) space has made the interest in blockchain technology even higher, allowing developers to create games that store information on the distributed ledger, showing that the technology’s capacity is not merely limited to allowing the existence of cryptocurrencies. Axie Infinity’s goal is aligned with that. It is to make people understand the technology through an abstract but simple experience.

Axie Infinity follows the footsteps of the popular game, Pokemon, except that it is powered by a blockchain. More than that, it also allows users to earn rewards just by playing the game. These rewards can be converted into an actual fiat currency which can use be used to make real-world purchases.

Background

Axie Infinity is a game that gained massive popularity in the Philippines, with the country contributing the largest traffic on the platform. According to a few reports, there are already over 29,000 people from the Philippines who have downloaded and played the game.

Sentiments about it are also incredibly positive, especially for those who are in dire need amidst the pandemic. There are testimonies that claim that families have even used the rewards they earned from the game to purchase digital devices, pay for tuition fees, buy essential household items, and many more. But how does the game really work?

What is Axie Infinity?

Axie Infinity is an Ethereum-based blockchain game powered by NFTs. The inspiration of the game ecosystem is Pokemon, where players can interact with each other, take care of their own in-game characters and assets, as well as earn rewards for participating in in-game activities.

Axie rewards its players with tokens that are built on top of the game platform when they battle with each other and build a land-based kingdom for their pets. They can also earn more when collecting and raising in-game pets.

The platform is open-source, which means that every data pertaining to the whole game, including every particular asset and genetic data (pertaining to the characteristics of different in-game pets), can be accessed by developers to create more in-game features that could be rolled out to the users.

How to earn from Axie Infinity

Axie is powered by a “play to earn” philosophy. Players who engage with the game are given rewards based on the contributions that they make to the game. This is also why the game has gained much popularity especially in the middle of the pandemic. It has given users the ability to make an income at this very difficult time, without even requiring them to have complex knowledge of what a blockchain actually is.

Here are some of the ways you could earn tokens from the game:

  • Competing in PVP battles to win leaderboard prizes.
  • Breeding Axies and selling them on the marketplace.
  • Collecting and speculating on rare Axies such as Mystics and Origins.
  • Farming for love potions that are needed to breed Axies. These can be sold on exchanges such as Uniswap and Binance.
  • Starting in 2021 players can earn a governance token, AXS, which represents a real slice of the game universe as it has governance rights and fee sharing built into it. Since players can earn this token by playing, a Ready Player one type quest emerges where players can actually earn part of the universe. However, these quests are not winner takes all and rewards each player based on their effort and skill.

Gameplay

Like Pokemon, the game follows an open-ended digital pet universe narrative. This means that there is no specific storyline to follow. Instead, it emphasizes individual and community-based tasks that players can do in order to immerse themselves in the ecosystem and continue adding value to it.

The pets that users have can be used to compete with their co-players. Through the “battle” system, they can engage in PvP activities and tournaments, among others, in order to earn additional token rewards. The better one’s pet is, the higher their chances are of beating other players.

Breeding your pets

Breeding pets mean that you can use those that you own to create new offspring. However, there is only a determined limit for the number of times an Axie can be bred. There is also a proportional amount of required in-game item, the Smooth Love Potion (SLP), before an Axie is bred. This requirement becomes higher the more times a pet has been bred.

Genetics

The genetics of Axies determine their appearance on the platform, as well as their qualities and capacity to pass their characteristics to their offspring. Then, these Axies can be valued at a particular price point which they can later sell to the NFT marketplace of the platform when they want to.

Axie Homeland

The game also features a homeland for the user’s pets, representing a lot that they will be able to exclusively own within the game universe. These are composed of lots that are also represented by NFTs. Users can make these a home for their pets. They can be upgraded whenever the user wants to.

AXS Token

Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) is the native token of the platform. It can be used to purchase in-game items, transfers, staking, and voting. For users to be able to claim their in-game rewards, however, they are required to lock in their AXS tokens to the game. They also have to continue to play it and participate in many in-game activities. In the process, they’ll also be entitled to AXS rewards.

The goal of providing AXS is to ensure that the goal of the users and the game developers are aligned. In addition to that, AXS also allows the platform to be more decentralized and community-based, especially in deciding what the future direction of the game will be.

Staking

Staking AXS is possible. When users lock in the staking smart contract the tokens they own, they will also be given rewards in proportion to the amount of their stake. The purpose of the staking structure of the platform, since it starts out high, is to reward the early adopters of the token and the players of the game to contribute to the ecosystem of the game.

However, note that the staking rewards for those who locked in their AXS token will remain in escrow for a year before they can be withdrawn.

Another way to earn AXS is to participate in community-based governance activities. Like many other staking platforms, they can earn proportional AXS rewards when the proposals they voted on won a particular governance round.

Conclusion

There is still a lot that we can find out in the quest for more blockchain use cases. The utilization of NFTs has opened a lot more room for innovations like Axie Infinity. Looking at where the game is today, it can be presented as a successful case study into how the technology behind it can be used to create real-world impact.

The best thing about the game is that it is not limited to making people understand what blockchain means. It also makes everyone understand that the blockchain can create significant benefits to their lives even if they cannot completely comprehend the nitty-gritty behind it. This is a welcome development to the cryptocurrency space because it also dispels the notion that such technologies have no real impact.