The income of Axie Infinity players mainly comes from PVE, PVP, and reproduction. The diversity of the game ecology also ensures the stability of the entire upstream and downstream income.
Recommended Reading: “Reading Axie Infinity, the King of Chain Tournament in the Sky “
Written by: OKEx Research
Thanks to the development of Ethereum’s scalability (such as Layer 2 or side chains, etc.) and the combination of Play-to-earn, NFT, and guilds, crypto games have achieved breakthrough development in 2021. As a result, the recently popular star encryption game Axie Infinity was born.
Project Introduction
Axie Infinity is a popular game on Ethereum that allows players to collect, breed, breed, fight, and trade token-based creatures called Axies. It currently has 140,000 Axies, and each Axie has unique characteristics that determine Axie’s behavior on the battlefield. Each Axie is a non-fungible token (NFT) with different attributes and advantages.
It is worth mentioning that the income of the game Axie infinity exceeds 3 times of the glory of the king. As an on-chain project, its handling fee exceeds that of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Under the premise of a threshold of about 1,500 US dollars, it can achieve amazing data of 250,000+ daily active players, making it a masterpiece of blockchain games and NFTs.
way of participation
Another important reason for Axie Infinity’s rapid explosion is also related to its low threshold and easy operation. Three simple steps: 1) Install the wallet on the chain, 2) Purchase the corresponding ETH, 3) Log in to the official website to download and enter the game successfully.
The specific operation method is as follows:
1) Open Google Chrome and search for “OKEx Chain Wallet” and “Ronin Wallet” in the App Store and download them, and create their own chain wallets in the two wallet plugins.
2) Go to OKEx (ouyi.run) to purchase 0.5 Ethereum (ETH) and withdraw it, and transfer it to your OKEx on-chain wallet through on-chain transfer.
3) Log in to the official website and click on the market
4) Click on the cross-chain bridge in the official market, cross-chain the ETH in the OKEx chain wallet to Ronin Wallet and buy 3 AXIE pets in the market.
5) Go back to the official website and click “PLAY NOW” to download the game and start the game.
Project profit
The profit of the project mainly comes from four methods: pet sales, land sales, market transaction fees and breeding fees.
Pet sales
The team completed the initial sale of the Axie pet in July 2018, raising 988.43 ETH.
Land sale
The team started land sales on January 23, 2019, and the land sales raised a total of 4,119.76 ETH.
Market transaction fee
A 4.5% handling fee is charged for each transaction, a total of 22,329.9 ETH.
Reproduction fee
Use ETH to reproduce before April 27, 2021. Each reproduction consumes 0.005 ETH. Starting from April 27, 2021, AXS is used for reproduction. At the beginning, it is set to consume 2 AXS per reproduction, and it will increase to 4 AXS from July. So far, it has obtained 921.39 ETH and 12,016,051 AXS (approximately 122,893.65 ETH).
As of August 9, 2021, the current cumulative game revenue of the team has received a total of 27,828.84 ETH and 12,016,051 AXS. After the game assets are sold, Axie Infinity’s main sources of income are market transaction fees and reproduction fees. At present, the team’s treasury includes 20,658.92 ETH and 12,016,051 AXS for market handling fees, and the remaining use of 7169.92 ETH for the sale of Axie and land and part of the reproduction cost is unknown.
Economic model
Project token
Axieinfinity is not so much a good game, it is more like a good Defi project. There are currently 3 tokens involved in the Axieinfinity ecosystem: ETH/AXS/SLP. At present, all economic activities dependent on the game currently rely on two functions-combat and reproduction.
ETH: The prerequisite for participating in the game is to have a team that includes 3 Axie NFTs. And Axie can only be obtained through three ways: trading, incubation, and gifting. Novice players who want to enter the game can only buy with ETH through the store, and sellers who successfully sell Axie will bear 4.25% of ETH as a transaction fee. The only point of interaction between the entire game ecosystem and the external economic system is ETH, and the 4.25% handling fee between entry and exit is also able to continuously improve the “pool” players’ expectations of the value of the entire project and extend the confidence of the project life to a certain extent source. Of course, in addition to the 4.25% handling fee, players often have to bear a single transaction fee of hundreds of yuan on the ETH chain and a cross-chain fee of hundreds of yuan. The high entry threshold and the “loss when you start” transaction fee can be said to be The non-blockchain industry is not user friendly. But this has not become an obstacle to more players joining, on the contrary, the game is currently becoming more and more prosperous.
SLP: Whether it is PVE or PVP, you can get a “small love portion” (SLP token) reward. There is an upper limit on the amount of SLP obtained per account per day. After the rules were revised on August 9, 2021, each player can obtain 50 SLPs through PVE every day, and receive 25 SLPs after completing 5 PVP victories and 10 PVE victories every day, which is a total of 75 SLP. It is worth mentioning that unlike the physical limit of traditional mobile games, Axieinfinity has unlimited number of games per day, and the 20-point “stamina” given by the system reset at 8 a.m. every day allows players to have physical strength. Obtain experience points through PVE or through PVP victory to obtain SLP beyond the upper limit of 75. The SLP obtained in the player’s game is mainly used to breed a new generation of Axie NFT or directly withdraw and sell. Maintaining the daily SLP acquisition through the game and quickly reaching the Axie NFT purchase value through the output SLP (currently the payback cycle is about 40-80 days) is one of the most important profit models in the game, and it also attracts a large number of players and funds The main reason for the influx into the game.
AXS: This is one of the other core tokens of the project. There is only one way to obtain AXS in the game, and that is through monthly ranking rewards. The game has a ranking mechanism that rewards the highest ranked players with a small portion of Axie tokens every month. Except for the 4 AXS that needs to be consumed during the breeding process, there is no other place in the game where AXS is needed.
In summary, the acquisition and consumption of related tokens in all projects are as follows:
Delay in earnings
In the entire game system, there is a revenue delay mechanism in almost every link, which leads to a higher cost of silence for users. In the currency price fluctuation cycle, users have different mentality at different price trends, which is more likely to make users Break the original return plan and continue to invest, and enter the next profit cycle. There are mainly the following two aspects:
- The acquisition of SLP requires that the user can withdraw 14 days after opening an account, and the interval between each withdrawal and the next withdrawal is still 14 days. This is actually using the user’s expected value to lock the position in disguise, and it can also perfectly maintain the market value in the case of insufficient depth and allow more users to improve the price perception of SLP.
- Players need to wait 5 days after breeding to know the specific breeding results of the two pets. We compare this model to mining machine futures. In fact, we continue to lengthen the user’s silent cost as the price rises and the current cycle becomes shorter. As a result, in the process of falling currency prices, the impulse to ship that has been trapped by users is reduced, and the next Merrill Lynch investment clock cycle can be quickly entered.
Breeding and token consumption
The breeding of pets is an important part of the whole game. Because of the strong randomness, the “gambling” in the game is increased, and the huge price difference between pets also begins. If you want to understand pet breeding, you must first understand what kind of pets are more valuable in the game.
Pets in the game will have 9 different races: Bird, Plant, Beast, Aquatic, Reptile, Bug, Dust, Mech ( Mech), Dawn. There is a mutual restraint relationship between species. The specific racial restraint relationship is as follows:
As shown in the figure, when a Beast/Insect/Mecha Axie attacks a plant/reptile/Dusk Axie, the attack will increase by 15% on the original basis, and vice versa. When the beast type Axie uses cards of the same type, its attack is increased by 10%. Example: When the bird-type Axie uses the same card to attack the beast-type Axie, the attack value is 125% of the original. Among them, Mecha, Dusk, and Dawn are mixed Axies, and there are no cards of the same series, so there are fewer players using these 3 Axies.
The sum of the 4 attribute values corresponding to health, speed, skill, and crit is 164, the upper limit of each attribute is 61, and the lower limit is 27.
- Health: AXIE can take the most damage before being knocked down
- Speed: The order in which the skills are used, in addition to determining the priority (high speed> low HP> high skill> high morale> low pet ID)
- Skill: When pets play multiple cards at a time, they cause extra damage (card attack*skills/500)
- Crit: Increase the pet’s attack crit rate and have a greater chance of entering the final blow.
The 6 body parts of pets of 9 races will also affect the attributes of pets. The data are as follows:
- Plant parts: 3 HP + Crit
- Beast parts: 3 Crit + 1 Speed
- Fish parts: 3 speed +1 health
- Worm parts: 3 critical strikes +1 health
- Butterfly parts: 3 health +1 speed
- Bird parts: 3 speed +1 critical strike
Among them, the pet’s mouth, back, horns, and tail will determine the four skills that the pet has. Skills are the core of the game. Of course, not all pets’ 6 parts belong to their own race. When parts of other races appear, we call it “mutation.”
Speaking of mutation rules, each part of a pet is controlled by 3 genes, which are a dominant gene (D), a recessive gene (R1), and a sub-recessive gene (R2). Dominant genes determine the appearance of pet body parts.
When pets breed, each gene has a chance to be passed on to offspring, the probability is as follows:
- Dominance (D): 37.5% chance of passing this gene to offspring.
- Recessive (R1): 9.375% chance of passing this gene to offspring.
- Sub-recessive (R2): 3.125% chance of passing this gene to offspring.
Pets use their own race skills will have a small additional bonus. Of course, not all mutations are bad mutations. There are some skill card settings in the game that require specific mutations and form linkage, which leads to some people deliberately matching some pet skills in order to pursue stronger PVP abilities. Mutation, although the probability of success is very low, once it succeeds, it is a pet with a high price.
The breeding process of pets also requires the investment of AXS and SLP tokens (the game update rules on August 11, 2021 require 2 AXS and corresponding SLP for reproduction). Every time the same pet breeds, more SLPs are needed for the next breeding. Under the conditions of breeding restrictions and the default for each pet to breed 7 times, and since inbreeding and breeding with their own parents are not possible, 2 pets can breed up to 7, and 3 or more pets can breed no number Upper limit. The actual cost of reproduction is affected by SLP and AXS prices.
Due to the relatively low cost of breeding and the greater randomness, many people are professionally engaged in pet breeding. In order not to waste, there will be pets that are genetically mixed and have very weak skill coordination. Before this season’s revision, PVE rewards were very difficult and difficult. This is why even if this type of pet is weak, there is still a large market demand and a large number of breeding, because the low price will lead to a faster return cycle. The fastest return period of the game was once shortened to 25 days, which is the main reason why SLP tokens have been falling in the past two weeks.
In the face of great randomness and possible huge benefits, more users have chosen to breed pets, and burn SLP and AXS tokens during the breeding process, so that the output and consumption of SLP in the entire game basically maintain a dynamic balance (There are many pet holders who don’t have time to complete the procrastinating daily tasks).
PVE mode
The PVE mode in the game is an important presence in the entire economic model. In PVE mode, players’ pets will gain experience points based on successfully passed levels. With the increase in experience points, players’ pets will be enhanced in PVE mode. The enhanced pets are easier to pass higher levels and can also Get more PVE rewards faster, so as to more efficiently complete the daily task limit specified by PVE.
The development process added in this process will not only present practical and effective results, but also make players feel emotional about their pets, and they are more reluctant to sell the higher-level pets they have trained, and also allow players to brush PVE. Behavior is more valuable.
Of course, it should be mentioned that the higher the level of the account, the faster the PVE rewards will be. Although the daily upper limit is the same, the old players may be 5-10 times faster than the new players in the “part-time job” process of obtaining the same SLP. The setting of this model has increased the superiority and sense of accomplishment of the old players, which is also one of the reasons why it can continue to attract more players and retain the old players.
PVP mode
After this season’s update, the official support and encourage users to play PVP games through SLP reward changes, in fact, in order to rectify the proliferation of studios, the SLP continues to fall.
Compared with the other links, the content of PVP is relatively straightforward. PVP is the main channel that reflects the playability of the entire game and the superiority of the players. The top 1,000 officials in each season will give higher AXS token rewards. It is also an important reason for the creation of the pet value system.
The latest season started on August 11th. If you have physical strength every day, you will win the PVP victory and you will get more SLP based on your current ranking points. The specific data are as follows:
Game playability
Combat mechanism: It is not enough to simply have a good economic model. The game data in Axie Infinity is relatively balanced. There are various psychological games in the game and there are ever-changing styles of play and linkage effects: 1) Attack value, protection Shield value and blood return.
Each skill card of a pet has a corresponding attack value and shield value. After the game starts, the player needs to consume crystals to play the cards. In PVP, the player gets 3 crystals in the first round, and 2 in each subsequent round. Point the crystal and draw 3 additional cards. While the pet is still alive, the skill cards of all pets will be multiplied by two to form a corresponding deck. Players draw skill cards from the deck until all the cards in the deck are drawn, and the cards will be shuffled into the next cycle.
The shield value will be reflected on the corresponding pet as long as the round uses the card. If the shield is broken, the pet will not be hurt, and the attack power and special effects will be released according to the pet’s order of action. Therefore, judging the opponent’s card in the round and judging the card based on the pet’s remaining physical strength and card special effects contains a very large psychological game.
Various buffs and debuffs BUFF: It is also very important to determine which special effects should be used according to different battle conditions during the battle to help players gain an advantage. Understanding the special effects of the opponent’s pet skills and taking precautions is also one of the keys to winning the game. All The gains and deductions BUFF are introduced as follows:
Card linkage: Many card special effects in the game are based on the linkage of two or more specific or non-specific cards. Because the energy value is very scarce during the PVP battle, in order to play a stronger linkage , Or play higher damage at one time, many players will not play cards in the first round or reduce the number of cards they can play in subsequent rounds in exchange for bursts in subsequent rounds. After all, two rounds of 100 output on two rounds of 50-point shields will cause 100 points of damage, and one round of 200 output on two rounds of 50-point shields will cause 150 points of damage.
Pet formation: Under the premise that the offensive card has no special effect, the pet will give priority to the pet standing in the front row opposite to attack. If two pets stand in the same row, the pet will attack randomly, which leads to the basis Various formation arrangements based on different cards, and seemingly very small changes, may affect a card round in the entire battle. Even if it is just a few health points, it will often cause damage to the entire card game. The critical impact of the war situation.
Summarize
According to the above description, the income of players in the game mainly comes from PVE, PVP, and reproduction. This also leads to the existence of studio power leveling, ladder power leveling, professional reproduction and other groups in the game. The diversity of the game ecology also proves the popularity of the game and the stability of the entire upstream and downstream income from the side.
On the product side, more complete supporting products also ensure the user experience. The Sky Mavis team released Axie Infinity, Ronin sidechain and wallet, Ronin block explorer, market and other products. The UI interface of the product is simple and beautiful, with relatively complete functions, which can meet the basic needs of users. The team will also release DEX on the Ronin side chain to meet the needs of users for ETH, SLP and AXS token transactions on the side chain. All in all, the team considers user needs more comprehensively and has developed corresponding products. The team is more pragmatic and credible.
