Axie Infinity has gained a lot of hype over the past month with a mass migrations of players barging into its ecosystem as quick as possible. Prices have spiked over recent weeks, though have cooled down, steadily declining to their original prices. Axie Infinity is popular from the promising rewards it comes with, connected with the fun and interactive game style and structure that makes it an entertaining way of earning money via NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Although promising, Axie Infinity likely will not last forever, all games eventually dying out. Now, the question is when will Axie Infinity's time come, soon or later?
Axie Infinity's Structure
Before going into the discussion of Axie Infinity's sustainability, it is first important to take note of the way Axie Infinity is run with a variety of methods already established in hope of increasing the longevity of the game. One of the most significant and well-known features of Axie Infinity is breeding. Axie Infinity has made breeding capped at 7 per Axie with prices increasing at an increasing rate over each breed, making breeding less favourable for each breed. The increased costs of breeding and capped number of breeds not only limits the breeding activity within Axie Infinity, but also raises more SLP (Smooth Love Potion) to be burned since the SLP paid for each breed is burned. Burning SLP reduces the supply of SLP, increasing its price if the demand remains the same or increases since there is less SLP available to players.
Keeping players constantly eager for Axies is important, otherwise Axie prices will crash as its demand dumps. Currently, having a high number of Axies is beneficial for players by increasing their energy limit for every threshold of Axie numbers met, thus incentivising players to have more Axies to play more Axie Infinity for higher earnings. The popularity of scholarships has also made Axies more desired, investors building a solid income by allowing other players to begin playing Axie Infinity without bearing the risks and costs of beginning the game, earning a return by taking a portion of the earnings from the player.
The life and activeness of a game often is related to its community activity, and so building an Axie Infinity community has been another means of providing a solid structure for Axie Infinity. With a Discord, Telegram, Twitter and other social media accounts, Axie Infinity players and enthusiasts can conveniently interact with other Axie Infinity people, strengthening the net holding the game. Content creators have also began coming onboard with Axie Infinity that makes a wider audience available to Axie Infinity, thus increasing the number of potential customers to maintain Axie Infinity.
Sustainability Of Axie Infinity
Although a range of methods have been applied to promote sustainability of Axie Infinity, there are still some weaknesses with its structure, though with a well-aware and open team, they are likely already addressed and set to be responded to in due time.
One major issue with the sustainability of Axie Infinity is the reliance on the influx of new players. If no new players continue to play Axie Infinity, then the structure will collapse. There would be no new people to buy Axies, especially budget Axies that experienced players are not willing to invest in, and so prices of Axies will dump, flowing on to the rest of the ecosystem. Currently Axie Infinity does not appear to be near to this issue at all, being on the contrary in the midst of a mass migration of players that has started over the past few weeks. The migration has slowed from the wave of hype, but even then there is still a trickle of players setting in. What makes Axie Infinity so attractive to many is the potential high rewards mixed in the fun of playing a genuinely enjoyable game. Rewards are so high that many people have turned to Axie Infinity as a job, including those in the Philippines. Adding a new feature involving burning Axies, such as burn three same classed Axie for a better Axie in some manner, would be a good way to respond to the issue, increasing demand for Axies while player numbers remain the same.
Another issue is keeping Axie Infinity fresh, though is not a severe issue with the earnings making Axie Infinity a much desired game. Axie Infinity already has a variety of interactive features, including land, adventure mode, arena mode and more, but have not recently released any updates in making the game more 'fresh.' The game may become less appealing to players over time as it is viewed more as a grind, people looking more at the rewards than the game that can affect the community, and thus the Axie Infinity ecosystem. Releasing buffs/debuffs to Axie parts every now and then is a good way of keeping the game exciting, though can be an issue with new players that recently bought certain Axies.
Keeping value to its in-game tokens SLP and AXS is a tough challenge for Axie Infinity with no real resolution, the only way by continuing its utility within the game and exciting players into investing into such tokens. If no one begins to feel a need for SLP or AXS, then the lower demand will push prices down, and that would cause a mass Axie Infinity crash. This is similar to every other cryptocurrency ecosystem. For example, the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has its value from the activity its users bring, users believing that a certain amount of BTC equates to a certain value in real life (e.g. car, food and services), so if there is no user activity, then BTC has no value at all, especially with no incentives for BTC mining that run transactions. However, the view of no value of SLP and AXS is unlikely, the system set on millions of people ecstatic with people looking at moving from both sides between fiat and cryptocurrencies.
Trung Thanh Nguyen - CEO
Final Words
Axie Infinity is a great game with great opportunities. What is happening to the game is likely only the beginning, especially with the game only beginning a few years ago and hype only starting recently. Popular games such as Fortnite and League Of Legends have been lasting for years yet still continued to be played with a solid community to support and nurture it, so Axie Infinity is likely to have the same growth trend, perhaps even stronger from the incentives involved in the play-to-earn mechanism. In short, Axie Infinity is sustainable and with a great and open team, will have its issue overcome for a better, more enjoyable game.