Axie’s 2024: The Resurgence of a Movement
July 2024 Development Update
Key Points:
Axie by the Numbers | Axie re-emerged from the broader crypto bear market and has been firing on all cylinders this year. In this update, we let our data speak for itself. Launches from the Bounty Board to Coinbase’s Learn and Earn campaign to Part Evolution have both re-engaged players and set new industry standards. Axie metrics are looking healthy.
Axie Games and Products | Over the past six months, Axie Infinity: Origins has grown with new features like Part Evolution and competitive seasons with AXS prize pools. Axie Classic has come back with new features, a competitive circuit, and increased user engagement. Homeland continues to evolve with player feedback, introducing events and preparing major updates like Avatar Mode. App.Axie has seen an explosion of new activity as a result of new features like Part Evolution and the Bounty Board. Engagement, revenue, and player activity are up across the board.
Governance | We’ve launched an early version of our governance system, introducing the Axie Governance Portal and Axie Score. We’ve passed our first AIP, a proposal to upgrade Axie and Land smart contracts, to make delegation of these assets safer and simpler.
Part 1: Axie by the Numbers
The last bear market was long, and many people even questioned the future of our industry. However, this was our thirdcrypto winter, and we knew better. The preparations we made over the past year have begun bearing fruit in 2024, and we’ve continued to innovate with new features like the Bounty Board and Part Evolution. The last six months were a time of triumph. A time of victory. After reading this update, you’ll see why.
In 2024, we saw App.axie engagement experience two major upward surges. The April surge was due to the launch of the Bounty Board. The June surge came from Coinbase’s Learn and Earn campaign. Let’s talk about those:
We launched the Bounty Board on April 15th, and saw immediate adoption from over 37K unique users. This number continued to grow as the summer began. The Bounty Board is a daily, reward-based Axie quest system that re-activated former Axie players and brought new recruits to our movement. It also inspired the Play-to-Rice 🍚 meme as players used their AXS rewards to buy real, raw rice IRL!
In June, the Coinbase Learn and Earn campaign kicked off. This was a joint effort between Sky Mavis and Coinbase to bring our movements closer together through educational quests on Coinbase. Coinbase users discovered Axie and Ronin while Lunacians explored Coinbase. Every metric shot up as a result. Axie DAA. Origins DAU. Classic MAU. App.axie trading volume. Monthly treasury revenue. Many of these players were new to our digital nation, and are now exploring the rest of our ecosystem.
294%. That’s how much moar on-chain revenue Axie generated compared to the next leading NFT collection. We’re holding strong to our Guinness World Record of Highest Transaction Volume for an NFT Collectible Game. This is also a healthy sign for our industry: Axie led the charge in 2021, and we’re doing it again in 2024.
Here are a few more stats from H1 2024:
Daily and monthly active users at the start of Bounty Board in April and end of Coinbase Campaign in July.
Daily and monthly average of trading volume and treasury revenue from mid-April to early-July.
Since the start of the Bounty Board and Coinbase campaign, Monthly Active Accounts (MAA) experienced an increase of 691%.
Origins DAU increased by 80%, and MAU jumped by 33%. Classic DAU surged by 223%, and MAU grew by 47%.
Average daily trading volume increased by 143%, and monthly trading volume went up by 47%, reflecting heightened economic activity within our ecosystem.
Average daily treasury revenue saw a significant boost of 195%, and monthly treasury revenue increased by 37%.
Weekly treasury revenue from part evolution transaction from mid-April to early-July.
Since February, the number of net new Axies has been negative each month. This indicates a deflationary trend where more Axies are being released than bred. As of July, we have 28.5k less axies than in February.
Since the launch of Part Evolution, players have released a total of 116,079 axies for materials. Currently, 77,878 axies boast at least one evolved part.
Our treasury revenue from ascension and parts evolution transactions has reached 75,477 AXS!
Part 2: Product Updates
Axie Infinity Origins: Six Months of Growth
Part Evolution Utility: In 2023 we introduced Part Evolution. Over the last six months, players evolved their axie parts and enhanced their in-game card stats.
Competitive Seasons: From Season 7 to Season 9, we’ve expanded the Origins prize pools from 63,000 to 81,133 AXS, rewarding more players. For H1, we’ve distributed an estimated 225,000 AXS in rewards ($1.36 million in today’s prices).
Collectible Axie Utility: We've continued rewarding collectible axie holders with chests, emphasizing their role as a Web3 Battle Pass. We’ve also launched the Collectible Leaderboard in Season 7. The CLB became a community favorite, allowing collectible axies to earn rewards and compete with their own AXS prize pool.
New Features and Faces: We launched Gauntlet Mode, now with SLP rewards. We’ve revamped the Runes and Charms crafting system with the new Scraps system in Season 8. This led to a record-breaking mints for Runes and Charms. We’ve also introduced five new non-NFT companion axies, bringing our total to 15.
Growth: Our daily active users surged by 97.61% to over 52,000, and our monthly active users increased to 156,445, driven by consistent innovation and updates.
Future Plans: We teased exciting features for Season 9 Offseason, including a PVE roguelike mode and the Meta Morph feature which brings gameplay utility to Collectitble axies.
Axie Classic: The Comeback
It was hard to miss this one. Seven months ago, Jihoz dropped the mic with four epic words: Axie. Classic. Is Back. Since then, we've seen a flurry of praise and excitement from players. Axie Classic was the game that introduced millions to the world of crypto, and we’ve made an effort to double down on the parts our community loves.
New Features in Axie Classic: We’ve launched a slew of new features like AXP earning, gold, chests, Cursed Coliseum mode, and Grand Tournaments, while keeping beloved Classic elements like turn-based battles, class advantages, and of course, critical hits. We also introduced the Premium Cursed Coliseum, Collectible Coliseum, guild features, and the revamped UI.
Axie Classic Competitive Circuit: In April, we announced the Axie Classic Competitive Circuit with a 57,000 AXS prize pool, including 12 seasons of guild leaderboard, Guild Wars, and the Axie Classic Guild World Cup. We've already held the first Guild Wars SEA in the Philippines and are gearing up for more, alongside Season Championships leading to the Axie Classic World Cup.
Private Tournaments: We've empowered the community with the in-game Private Tournaments feature, leading to hundreds of player-hosted tournaments and our own Bounty Hunter Flash Cup with a 50 AXS daily prize pool.
Growth: Since January, Axie Classic has shown impressive growth with a 190% increase in daily active users, reaching over 45,000 players, and rising weekly and monthly engagement, proving its resurgence and future dominance.
Future Plans: Season 4 is at the door. Season 4 will introduce Artifacts, Battle Pass, a revamped Arena Leaderboard, and daily Mini Tournaments with AXS prizes. Don’t sleep on Axie Classic!
Homeland
Homeland is our ambitious vision of a player-owned digital world. We dream of a world where Lunacians harvest, produce, build, and socialize with fellow Lunacians while developing their own plot of land.
When Homeland launched its beta phase in January, we faced a few hurdles. The release didn't quite hit the mark we'd set for ourselves, and our community let us know. Our founders, Jiho and Trung, released the Homeland Founder’s Note, committing to the realignment of our development with the core vision. We rolled up our sleeves and got to work on fixing bugs, rethinking unpopular mechanics, and reintroducing features players loved.
Here’s where we are in Homeland right now:
Feedback-Driven Development: Player feedback guided us to introduce updates through "leek" articles, allowing us to adjust based on community reactions. For example, we revamped the Moonfall mechanic to make questing more structured based on players’ input.
AXP Earning and QoL Updates: We’ve introduced AXP earning for axies working our land, with 10,000 AXP per day for each axie. We’ve also shipped out more QoL improvements.
Homeland Events: We also held three events—The Gathering Showdown, The Cooking Showdown, and the Adventurer's Rush—each with leaderboards and prizes totaling approximately 20,000 AXS. These events celebrated our community's creativity and dedication, from gathering resources to crafting culinary masterpieces, showcasing Homeland's incredible potential.
Future Developments: We're excited about two major upcoming features in Homeland: Axie NFTs will replace NPC adventurers. Avatar Mode will introduce interactive social experiences, allowing us to explore and chat with neighbors as our axie avatars.
Governance
Let's hit pause for a second and soak this in. Governance in Web3 can be messy and complicated. Sometimes it feels like we're building a plane while flying it. We're in uncharted territory, and we're figuring it out together. But hear this out. Today isn't about promises or big fancy words. It's about showing you the goods. Here’s the advances we’ve made for Axie Governance:
Axie Score and Governance Portal Launch: On May 17th, we launched the Axie Score and Governance Portal, marking the birth of Axie governance and enabling every Lunacian to shape our collective future.
Axie Score: The Axie Score is a point system reflecting community members' contributions to the Axie ecosystem, promoting balanced involvement beyond just holding tokens. It's a work in progress, developed by the Axie Score committee and contributors.
First Governance Vote: We introduced AIP-001 to upgrade the Axie and Land contracts, testing our new governance mechanisms. The AIP passed with 14.7 billion total voting power, 4.08 million staked AXS, and participation from 4,063 unique wallets.
Town Builders: Our dedicated Town Builders have been instrumental in shaping governance initiatives, volunteering their time and collaborating with the community. Their efforts and insights have been crucial in refining our governance processes.
Future of Governance: As we refine and expand Axie governance, we remain committed to incorporating community feedback. The Axie Governance Portal and Axie Score will evolve with our community.
Governance Portal: The Governance Portal simplifies community decision-making, allowing members to connect their Ronin Wallet, stake AXS, and vote on proposals.
Final Thoughts
As we reflect on the past six months, one thing is certain: Axie is the next Axie. Axie Infinity isn’t just a game; it’s a revolution in digital ownership and community-driven development. The journey ahead is exciting. Think of new features and innovations for our games and products—all leading to more player engagement and economic activities. Regardless of market conditions, we’ll be here to build, innovate, and push the boundaries of what’s possible. Join us in this journey. Together, we’re shaping the future of gaming and beyond.