No amount of Smooth Love Potion is going to restore Axie Infinity\u2019s healthy glow. But something else might \u2014 Origin, the most significant upgrade in the GameFi pioneer\u2019s short history.<\/p>\n
On\u00a0 April 7th, Axie Infinity quietly released the next iteration of its game in a soft launch. Axie\u2019s legions of gamers, who came to rely on its tokenomics to make ends meet in the real world, are hoping it rejuvenates a venture that ushered in the play-to-earn model.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Fun Factor<\/h4>\n
Gabby Dizon, co-founder of YieldGuild<\/a>, a group that supports Axie players, is optimistic the move will pay off.\u00a0 \u201cThe bear market will allow projects with funding to build without the noise, applying lessons learned throughout 2021, and ensure that the \u201cfun factor\u201d is prioritized when designing in-game experiences,\u201d he told The Defiant.<\/p>\n Origin will have its work cut out for it. Axie Infinity\u2019s governance token,\u00a0 AXS, is down 90% since its peak last November, and the game lost half its players in June, according to Messari and ActivePlayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Smooth Love Potion (SLP), the token that rewards Axie\u2019s players, has tumbled 98% since its high<\/a> in May 2021.<\/p>\n The blockchain-based game, which is owned by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis, is under stress like never before. In March, $620 million was stolen<\/a> from Axie\u2019s network but no one even noticed that until a week after the hack, which exacerbated the doubt surrounding the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even so, Philip La, Axie Infinity\u2019s product manager, pushed back against the idea the game cannot rebound.<\/p>\n Gaming Guild YGG Pulls Out the Stops to Weather a Brutal Bear Market in GameFi<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe game still exists with major improvements rolling out regularly,\u201d La wrote in a blog post<\/a>.\u00a0 and we will continue to come out with more games that apply all of the learnings we\u2019ve had over time. The narrative that we are in an existential state and running out of time is false. \u201d<\/p>\n Game players buy NFTs of monsters and then have them fight one another. \u00a0 Players can grow, breed and battle their digital pets called Axies. Under the play-to-earn model<\/a>, gamers own their Axies and trade their in-game assets in the marketplace as NFTs. The Axie Land is tokenized and acts as homes and bases of operation for Axies.<\/p>\n Origin changes this up by permitting the players to do their thing without having to buy Axies, making it more accessible to people on lower budgets. Axie has also introduced a new battle system with more strategic and interactive features, and users now can stake their Land to earn tokens as a reward.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even though Origin is still in its beta, there are plenty of developments that players are looking forward to, such as crafting (a feature in which materials are converted into Rune, Charm and other items), and Axie evolution (where players can level up body parts in their Axies).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/HTwqYmkiaT2eu2XXxZVQ1RqauqlrIBcRzlTXcemw3yN1RbOO7jhRsGsmPg5tOH71UY73dh4zJZ1A0rrfIZV2unjZusXaKNe6A-c6mWl6gV5AAvtpkesp9rSEcp9M5p0sWlJPBz8tdNVOWj9LW1yKy94\")
New Battle System<\/h4>\n