Infinity
Company
Documents about Infinity
Two & a Half Gamers Session #1: Casual Intro and Predictions 2022
The first session of the "two & a half gamers" podcast, published January 14, 2022, introduces a self-described "no BS" gaming show that mimics the candor of a 4am conference discussion.
- The current play-to-earn gaming model is viewed as fundamentally flawed and potentially unsustainable due to its reliance on scholarship mechanics and structural similarities to Ponzi schemes.
- Mainstream adoption of blockchain-integrated gaming is hindered by significant user friction, specifically high initial investment costs, complex wallet integration, and prohibitive exchange fees.
- Despite industry expectations that blockchain integration would become a standard feature for new mobile game launches by mid-2022, the model faces severe challenges in achieving viable user acquisition.
Axie Infinity: Infinite Opportunity or Infinite Peril?
Axie Infinity, built by Sky Mavis, has achieved remarkable growth while resting on an economy that appears structurally unsustainable.
- Axie Infinity's economic stability is severely compromised by a 2.5 mint-to-burn ratio for the Smooth Love Potion (SLP) token, leading to persistent inflationary pressure.
- The platform's valuation has deteriorated significantly, with the price-to-sales ratio surging from 0.64 to 8.32 over a three-month period.
- The ecosystem suffers from a structural oversupply of Axies, which has diminished the demand for breeding and undermined the primary mechanism intended to sink tokens and generate treasury revenue.
Designing For An Interoperable Future
Matt Dion examines whether blockchain games can deliver true interoperability, in which verifiable NFT ownership lets players carry digital assets and identity across titles.
- Interoperability in gaming, defined as the ability to move digital assets like NFTs between different games or applications, faces significant technical hurdles including the lack of standardized graphical rendering, file formats, and cross-game balancing of item utility.
- The most immediate path for interoperability is the 'Microverse' model, where publishers like Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity) enable assets to function across multiple titles within their own controlled ecosystem.
- A 'Composable Ecosystem' approach, exemplified by the Loot project, decentralizes development by allowing third-party creators to build independent tools, currencies, and games around a shared set of NFT assets.
To Axie Infinity & Beyond: Infinite Optimism for Sustainability
This December 2021 GameMakers newsletter post, written by Joseph Kim, introduces a podcast and video discussion on the long-term sustainability and economics of Axie Infinity and its developer, Sky Mavis.
- As of December 2021, Axie Infinity established itself as the market leader in blockchain gaming, ranking first in total sales volume and second in unique active wallets.
- The rapid growth of Axie Infinity has served as a primary catalyst for the surge in venture capital investment directed toward crypto-based gaming opportunities.
- Sky Mavis, the developer behind Axie Infinity, has publicly acknowledged that long-term economic sustainability is a critical challenge for the platform.
Crypto Games Culture War
This November 2021 games industry newsletter argues that the industry's backlash against blockchain gaming is largely misplaced, even as crypto game makers overestimate their own disruptive power.
- Blockchain technology in gaming is currently in a nascent, experimental phase that may follow the historical integration path of previous disruptions like digital distribution and free-to-play models.
- While critics label blockchain games like Axie Infinity as Ponzi schemes due to high entry costs of approximately $1,000, traditional mobile gaming already utilizes similar 'whale-hunting' economic models.
- Environmental criticisms of crypto-gaming are contextualized by data showing that the U.S. gaming industry already consumes energy equivalent to 85 million refrigerators annually.
PC Game Discovery: 5 Big Trends in 2022
GameDiscoverCo founder Simon Carless uses this newsletter to step back from his usual granular data posts and outline five broad trends shaping PC premium game discovery in 2021.
- Steam remains the dominant platform for non-AAA titles, frequently generating over 90% of their total revenue.
- Games designed specifically for PC with complex UIs and deep simulation mechanics are currently outperforming titles built for multi-platform parity.
- The market is increasingly saturated, with Steam averaging more than 250 new releases per week, making high quality alone insufficient for commercial success.
Token Gestures
Valve's decision to ban NFT and blockchain games from Steam, published in October 2021, is framed as a highly significant turning point for crypto gaming rather than a trivial loss.
- Valve has banned games featuring NFTs or blockchain technology from the Steam platform, marking a significant shift for a major digital storefront.
- The ban is driven by concerns over legal liability, potential scams, and regulatory risks, such as those highlighted by the Evolved Apes project where a creator absconded with $2.7 million in NFT sales.
- While Epic Games has stated it remains open to blockchain games, its policy requires strict adherence to laws and age-rating standards, creating significant legal hurdles that may effectively prevent such titles from appearing on its store.
NFTs, Ultima Online, and Player-run Game Economies
Ultima Online, the 1997 MMORPG from Origin Systems, offers a practical framework for integrating NFTs into games in ways that support genuinely player-run economies rather than speculative collectibles.
- Successful NFT integration in gaming requires that tokenized assets possess intrinsic utility within the game, rather than functioning solely as speculative collectibles.
- Ultima Online, launched in 1997, provides a foundational model for player-run economies where scarcity of land and the utility of player-owned housing drove a secondary market that historically relied on external platforms like eBay.
- To prevent speculative bubbles, NFT-based game economies must ensure that tokenized assets are derived from freely accessible in-game resources, avoiding hard caps that decouple asset value from gameplay.
5 Reasons Why I Became Bullish on Blockchain Gaming
Ethan Levy, a veteran free-to-play designer at N3TWORK, recounts his shift from blockchain skeptic to advocate and argues that digital asset ownership could fundamentally improve how live-operated games make players feel.
- Blockchain gaming shifts the player-developer relationship by replacing traditional free-to-play sunk costs with digital asset ownership and potential liquidity.
- True scarcity in blockchain models allows developers to maintain long-term asset value, providing an alternative to the traditional industry reliance on power creep.
- The ability to trade and cash out digital assets mitigates buyer's remorse and reduces the repetitive fatigue often associated with live-service games.
When Lambo: Axie's $152M Raise and Amazon's Content Curse
Early October 2021 commentary argues that the games industry is at an all-time high but may be nearing the end of a flush period.
- The gaming industry saw record venture capital investment in the first nine months of 2021, with approximately $9 billion raised across nearly 500 deals.
- Sky Mavis secured $152 million in Series B funding at a $3 billion valuation, yet Axie Infinity's sales volume dropped 39% from $848 million in August to $518 million in September 2021.
- Amazon’s New World reached over 900,000 concurrent players, marking a significant milestone for the company after previous failures like Crucible.
Crypto Is a Space Race: Buying into Something Better
Late-September 2021 commentary argues that crypto and blockchain gaming are the start of a new boom cycle, comparable to the dot-com era of 1999.
- Axie Infinity dominates the gaming NFT market, accounting for 83 percent of all game-related NFT volume with over $2 billion in total sales.
- Investor confidence in blockchain gaming remains high, evidenced by Dapper Labs raising $250 million at a $7.6 billion valuation and Sorare securing $680 million in funding.
- Wizards of the Coast demonstrates that legacy brands can thrive by leveraging evergreen IP like Dungeons & Dragons, reporting $816 million in revenue with high profit margins.
Sky Mavis’ NFT Game Generates $2 Billion in Sales
Sky Mavis' blockchain strategy game Axie Infinity has generated more than $2 billion in cumulative sales, placing it first among collectibles according to DappRadar.
- Sky Mavis’ strategy game Axie Infinity generated over $2 billion in sales, establishing it as a leading title in the NFT collectibles market as of September 2021.
- The game facilitates a play-to-earn model where over 600,000 merchants have engaged in more than 4.8 million NFT transactions.
- Player-owned assets are central to the game's economy, requiring users to purchase at least three character NFTs to participate in battles and earn AXS and SLP tokens.