Axie Infinity: The Leader in Play to Earn

You're not dreaming. You can earn a living simply by playing video games. Axie Infinity makes it possible, thanks to a system called Play-to-Earn. A leader in this field, Axie Infinity has enabled many people to generate a sufficiently substantial source of income to meet their needs. Particularly during the health crisis.

This was the case, for example, of Howard, a Filipino living in the town of Cabanatuan, who lost his job because he had to remain confined to his home. To earn money, Howard turned to Axie Infinity and now manages to earn around $300 a month. Not an insignificant sum given that the average salary in the Philippines is around $170 a month. If you don't believe it, click on this link: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo-BrASMHU4. Let's move on to the presentation of Axie Infinity.

Presentation of Axie Infinity

Video games and NFT

Axie Infinity is a project that combines the pleasures of video games with the uniqueness of NFTs, through a system called 'Play to Earn'. As a reminder, an NFT represents a unique digital asset which, thanks to the blockchain, has its own specific characteristics. If you would like to find out more about NFTs, I highly recommend this article: https: //coinaute.com/les-nft-cest-quoi-le-temps-vous-lexplique/.

As explained above, Play to Earn is a system for rewarding players of a video game in the form of tokens. These tokens can be linked in some way to the game's native cryptocurrency. Once tokens have been earned in the game, they can be exchanged for fiat currency (euros, dollars, etc.) on specialist platforms.

The birth of a giant

Dreamed up in 2017, Vietnamese crypto-gaming company Sky Mavis launched its own Play to Earn, called Axie Infinity, in 2020. Some time after its launch, the game was a huge success. So much so that even today, Axie Infinity is considered to be the first to have paved the way for the democratisation of NFTs in video games.

Then, in June 2021, Axie Infinity raised $7.5 million from a number of prestigious investors. These included Mark Cuban, an American billionaire and businessman, and Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit.

Then, in October 2021, Axie Infinity raised a record $152 million from two major investors. FTX, one of the world's fastest-growing cryptocurrency companies, and US venture capital fund Andreesen Horrowitz, also known as A16z.

With these substantial fund-raisings, Axie Infinity's ambition is to develop what it calls 'Project K'. This is a new management and strategy game that will take place on their Play to Earn platform. Players will have plots on which they can construct buildings of all kinds, in order to harvest resources and defend themselves against assaults from other players. It's worth noting that these plots will most likely be NFTs, with which it will be possible to trade.

How does Axie Infinity work?

In Axie Infinity, players own small creatures called 'Axies', which can be likened to Pokémon. Players can raise them and have them fight. They can also complete quests and cultivate resources. The only difference with the Pokémon game is that, here, Axies are NFTs and can be resold at any time to other players on a dedicated marketplace.

As each Axis is an NFT, the player is the sole owner of the monster he owns. If one of their monsters is at a high level, they can easily resell it to make a profit. They can also mate their Axies to create a new one. Depending on the more or less unique attributes of its parents, the new Axis can stand out from the crowd and fetch a high price. By way of example, the rarest Axies have been sold for record sums, approaching €300,000.

AXS & SLP tokens

What is a token?

In the world of cryptocurrencies, atokenis a digital asset that can be likened to a cryptocurrency because it is indexed to a blockchain. The difference between the two is thatthe sole purpose of a token is not to be used as a currency. Although this is sometimes the case, a token can have multiple functions, unlike a crypto-currency, which is used exclusively for transactions. A token is therefore a form of value derived from an underlying blockchain. In the case of Axie Infinity, the game has two tokens that are essential for the game to function properly. SLP (Smooth Love potions) and AXS (Axie Infinity Shards). Both are based on the Ethereum blockchain, and we're going to find out what their role is within the Play-to-Earn Leader.

SLP (Smooth Love potions)

SLP tokens are given as rewards to players who win their fights. On average, they get between 2 and 20 SLP per victory , depending on their level. A system of daily quests also allows players to earn more. Once players have obtained their tokens, they can either sell them on an exchange platform, or use them to mate their Axies. Which is one of the main functions of the token. If you haven't noticed, "smooth love potions" can be translated as "potions d'amour douces" or "philtre d'amour". At the time of writing, the SLP token is worth €0.015.

AXS (Axie Infinity Shards)

Axie Infinity Shads is a governance token. In other words, it allows holders to take part in certain decisions concerning the game. Beyond this aspect, the AXS is accepted as a means of payment on the game's marketplace. The best players also receive AXS tokens as rewards during the PvP seasons. During the last season, top players shared a prize pool of 3,000 AXS tokens, worth $450,000. It can go much higher during e-sports tournaments. AXS holders also have the option of stacking their chips. In exchange for their participation, they receive rewards in the form of interest ranging from 20% to 120% per year, depending on the platform. At the time of writing, the AXS token is worth €43.36.

How to play Axie Infinity

Before you play Axie Infinity, you should be aware that you will need to invest between €200 and€500. And why is that? Because to start the adventure, you need to buy 3 Axies. Otherwise, you won't be able to play the game. Even if the investment can be substantial, don't forget that the average player makes around $300 a month. Add to this the fact that the more time you spend playing, the more money you earn. This means that your initial investment can be repaid fairly quickly.

Should I invest in Axie Infinity?

Very solid foundations

According to Wallet Investor, one of the most popular crypto-currency prediction platforms, the AXS token could be worth $432 by 2026. While this is a very optimistic estimate, it has to be said that, given certain factors, there is a good chance that it will one day come true. Axie Infinity already has a number of major partners. These include Ubisoft, Binance, AAVE and Samsung, to name but a few. And let's not forget that Axie Infinity has attracted a number of high-profile investors and companies, raising a total of more than $150 million.

Significant results

But that's not all. According to statistics from CryptoSlam, an aggregator of NFT industry data, Axie Infinity currently ranks first in terms of total sales, across all NFT collections combined. With a total sales volume of more than $4 billion. According to Dapps Radar, a directory that displays all the data on decentralised applications, Axie Infinity has an average of more than 50,000 active players every week.

Caution first

As you can see, all these factors lend a great deal of credibility to Axie Infinity's potential. So it's no coincidence that it's considered the undisputed leader in Play to Earn. So investing in it might not be such a bad idea. But be careful. No matter how reliable or innovative, a crypto-currency project is never risk-free. So if you want to invest, it is advisable to do so in moderation to temper your risk-taking.