2023 In Lunacia

In 2023 we conquered some of our greatest challenges yet.

Jan 01, 2024

Every so often, a product emerges that defines our relationship with a new technology.

Axie Infinity is that product for the web3 generation.

In 2023 we faced some of our greatest challenges yet. Could we successfully implement Axie Core and Axie Evolution? Could we break down adoption barriers and scale our community-outreach strategy? Could we re-activate the sleeping giant of the Axie PH community? Is Axie really the next Axie?

These were just some of the questions we faced on January 1st as we looked upon the year before us.

In this note we’ll present some parting thoughts on 2023, as we prepare to climb the mountains ahead of us in 2024.

By The Numbers

In 2023 we restarted Axie’s growth engine after weathering the storms of 2022:

Our part evolution trailer, “The Forgotten Temple”, made a splash, racking up over 2.7 M organic views in a week. This already makes it the #1 announcement by engagement in web3 gaming & NFTs this year.

In 2023, over 72000 new wallets acquired more than 1 axie . 72000 people attended Live Aid so the picture above might give a picture of the scale of this onboarding.
Over 662647 total accounts interacted with at least one Axie game in 2023.
Axie Ecosystem MAU increased from ~ 100 K at the beginning of the year to 270 K today, an increase of 170%.

Good day manager! Classic climbed from 10 K MAU back in August, to 160 K MAU now that we’ve officially brought it “BACK”. The announcement post on Facebook went super viral, racking up more than 8 million views, making it the most read declaration in NFTs this year.
1.7 B SLP was burned this year, compared to only 0.5 B emitted. This means that SLP supply contracted by 1.2 B in 2023, a deflation rate of more than 2.5%

We are confident that the numbers above support the assertion that Axie Infinity was once again, the largest IP in NFTs this year.

New Inventions & NFT Economics

Axie is the bubbling laboratory for the entire NFT gaming sector. We invented play to earn, but the next step is spawning the balanced economic systems that will fuel it forever.

In 2023, we delivered on a dream 6 years in the making: vertical progression via part evolution and Axie Core.

We believe that “meta-games”, embodied in ideas like Axie Core, are what make web3 gaming special. While legacy game developers attract players solely through immersion and/or fun, blockchain-infused games have the potential to make games that warp the very fabric of our lives.

Axie has a few meta-games bundled into it:

The game of building a game alongside a community and aligning incentives to maximize network value.
The game of playing Axie Infinity to maximize its positive impact on your career, education, and family. Real world implications.
The game of playing and allocating effort between various Axie experiences to maximize the value, power, and aesthetics of your Axie Infinity digital collectibles.

In 2023, we delivered on part evolution. Finally. We now have a complete loop— a virtuous cycle where you can play axie games, earn resources, and then spend those resources to enhance and distinguish your axie from the millions that already exist. Your axies are becoming the main characters of your digital identity.

In 2024, we’ll double down by integrating AXP and evolution utility into the dozens of axie experiences. We’ll also experiment with an upcoming change to SLP’s distribution and supply dynamics — forced upon us by a brutal Lunacian winter frost…

Relentless Shipping

The only way to predict the future is to build it ourselves. The only way to invent something is to iterate and combine things together in novel combinations.

We’ve invented and predicted the future by constantly iterating and shipping product. This post is not about going through all the product enhancements and new games from this year. There’s too many. You are likely even tired and overwhelmed with the pace of our shipping ( we won’t stop we’re going to ship MOAR).

Here’s a list if you’d like a recap (thank you community member, Dashred, for compiling and giving us the idea):

January 3 - Axie Accessories went live ❇

January 3 - Lunacia's Stocking Stuffers 🎉

January 11 - Origins Season 2 launched 🏆

February 15 - Axie Infinity's 5th birthday 🎉

February 19 - Axie Infinity: Homeland Alpha Season 1 announced 🏆

February 22 - Homeland Alpha Season 1 went live 🏆

February 24 - New AxieInfinity.com website released ❇

March 2 - New Body Color Filters on app.axie released ❇

March 8 - Origins Season 3 launched 🏆

March 23 - Offers went LIVE on App.axie ❇

April 14 - First Axie Esports Major event: AxieTh World Battle Bangkok 2023 launched 🏆