Would you invest in Pokémon?

— No, really. Let’s rephrase. Would you invest money in Pokémon? Like, real money. Money that belongs to you, money in your bank account or your wallet. Would you?

For Axie Infinity players, they’ve already done so, and in turn, have made the game one of the most popular NFT-based online video games today!

Axie Infinity: Origin

As it says on the game’s whitepaper, “Axie Infinity is a Pokémon-inspired universe where anyone can earn tokens through skilled gameplay and contributions to the ecosystem. Players can battle, collect, raise, and build a land-based kingdom for their pets.” 

Axie Infinity was created by the Vietnamese developer Sky Mavis, a team founded in 2018. According to the developer’s Team page, they “believe that fun, beautiful games will become a source of income for anyone, anywhere.” Axie Infinity is Sky Mavis’ most well-known game.

Once, there was a massive stink about purchasing in-game stuff with real money [with] World of Warcraft. Back then, it was a violation of WoW’s terms and conditions, but with Axie Infinity, things are a better kind of different.

“By introducing a dedicated marketplace, NFTs, and a blockchain, the trading around Axie Infinity and similar games is more secure and means that players actually own the items in question,” says The Conversation.

Meanwhile, the Ascent says, “a lesser-known crypto will grab the headlines with a massive price jump.” And that’s what Axie Infinity did! Upon launch, it became both the #1 Ethereum and #1 Blockchain game. Axie Infinity is still one of the more popular NFT play-to-earn games as with The Sandbox, but recently it’s getting overshadowed by newer games such as Alien Words and CryptoBlades — but that’s for another time.

About Axie

Upon loading, Axie Infinity’s website doesn’t look janky or unpolished — instead, it makes you believe that the game is a delight to play! Their home site is spectacular, and not only that, but it’s also interactive. As you scroll down, clouds swirl, and the site takes you from the open sky to the inside of a medieval shop. You would never guess this was also a blockchain-based game dealing with Non-Fungible Tokens and requiring the cryptocurrency Ethereum (not to play, but particularly to purchase Axies.)

As for gameplay, you control creatures like in Pokemon, though the game also draws inspiration from Tamagotchi — remember those little guys you had to carry around and care for the whole day?

Well, in Axie Infinity, you amass your little creatures — your Axies — you’ll start with three so you can fight other peoples’ Axies. With every fight, you collect Smooth Love Potions so that you can breed more, better Axies. Not only that, the love potions, or SLP for short, can be sold on cryptocurrency exchanges! 

Note that cryptocurrency doesn’t work like established currencies; they’re very much subject to fluctuations. Cryptocurrency, “the digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend,” according to Investopedia. Case in point, at the time of this writing, SLPs are going for $0.17, almost ₱9. 

Axies start from little eggs, and the babies look so lovable! There’s also a trading system involved. Level up your Axies enough, and you’ll probably be good enough to win competitive play! Pretty simple, right?

Here’s what the Axie Marketplace looks like:

Adorable, aren’t they? But wait! Notice those amounts underneath most of the Axies? Yeah, you might have to buy those suckers before you start playing!

How to earn

Before you even download the game, the site tells you that you’ve got to have three Axies. After that, there’s a fair number of additional instructions, as you need to prepare your crypto wallets and Etherium. You can check out the complete guide here.

One can purchase Axies at a starting rate-about $300 — that’s about ₱15,082 in local currency. However, Axies go at an average price of $350 (₱17,612.88!), and that’s not even counting the premium Axies that are rare or even mystic. If you don’t have a lot going on in the bank, best not to mention how much those rarer ones go for.

If you don’t have a lot of money to spend on three cutesy furry balls, you can borrow Axies in a system called scholarships.

Axie Infinity Shards are the primary crypto associated with the game. According to its section on the Axie Infinity site, “Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) are the glue that binds all Axie community members together.” Those investing in said crypto can vote on how to govern the game’s ecosystem and said investors could also get a share when it comes to the community treasury.

Also, one can trade Axies at the Marketplace as a form of NFT. In-game items and even real estate are also tradeable, as they are NFTs! 

What do Pinoys think about it?

Axie Infinity has a player base with 1 million daily active users. At one point, however, Player Counter noted that 40% of Axie Infinity users came from the Philippines. Also, according to the Inquirer, there have been a couple of youngsters who’ve hit it big with Axie, even going so far as to be able to use their earnings to support their families during these turbulent times.

What platform is it on, mobile? Desktop?

Axie Infinity can be played on both, but the devs caution players to ensure they’ve got the appropriate crypto wallets. It just so happens that Sky Mavis’ go-to is Ronin Wallet. According to its Chrome Web Store page, Ronin Wallet is “an Ethereum sidechain built specifically for Blockchain games.” Players need it to keep their spoils of war — that is, Axie Infinity’s coins.

Pros and Cons

Axie Infinity sounds like a fun game. You handle such cute, unique, furry, melon-shaped, stubby-legged little critters and have them fight as you go on adventures!

Honestly, the allure of a play-to-earn game sounds mighty tempting in these challenging times. Maybe reading this article makes it sound like you, too, can find success. But, unfortunately, it’s even worse because not a lot of opportunities are available at this point.

Even though many have managed to make it big on Axie Infinity, you still have to be wary about it.

The Axie Infinity game is great and all, but you have to go into this with the sort of healthy mindset you should have about investing. There’s a chance to get high returns, but that’s just that: A chance. It’s an investment, but the volatile nature of crypto adds an aspect of gambling into the mix. 

It’s true that you can get a return on your investment. However, you also don’t lose your SLPs even if you don’t win fights.

Still, if you invested, say 100K, you can’t expect to earn it all back in just a month. The game’s cryptocurrency is currently in a state of decline, and due to its unpredictability, you never know what you’re going to get. So be careful to avoid losing money that would be of better, more reliable use elsewhere.

The cryptocurrency winds will blow however they like. So before you play, make sure you go into this game having done your homework, and with money, you’re prepared to burn. 

Remember, you’re the only one who’ll be left with the consequences of your actions. So act wisely.

– Alex/WhatALife.ph

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