Vietnam-based Sky Mavis’s non-fungible token (NFT) game Axie Infinity became a sensation last year as millions of users flocked to it, seeking to earn money by acquiring and trading its NFTs. For some, the game appeared so lucrative that they quit their jobs to focus on Axie.
However, the game developer was hit by the biggest hack in crypto history in March this year, with assets worth $650 million stolen from its Ronin blockchain network.
Having reimbursed all stolen funds, Sky Mavis has now shifted its focus toward gameplay. Its co-founder and COO Aleksander Leonard Larsen says there needs to be a serious rethinking of the term “play-to-earn” and the way people treat blockchain games. The focus, he said, should be on the entertainment side.
The company has also faced other challenges. Digital asset prices have been on a decline this year, and Axie Infinity’s Smooth Love Potion, the in-game currency that players can trade and exchange for real money, has fared no better.
Larsen maintains that Sky Mavis is in a good position as a prominent player in the gaming space, with 2.2 million players holding Axie NFTs today and 4 million downloads of the Ronin crypto wallet.
However, Sky Mavis is now operating in an environment where trust in the crypto market has further been eroded by the collapse of Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital, Terra and its Luna stablecoin ecosystem, and FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange.
Larsen said he remains optimistic that the good players will wade through the crypto bear market and that new regulations will come in place to avoid fraudulent events.
Below are excerpts of the interview, which also appears in DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE’s SE Asia’s Digital Gaming Landscape 2022 report.
