What Is the Future of Play2earn ft. Jeff Zirlin, Gabby Dizon & Nielsen Caruncho

TL;DR

Play-to-earn is expected to become a major part of both crypto and gaming by expanding onto mobile, where 80 percent of gamers play. Axie Infinity’s growth followed years of community building and the integration of Ronin, an NFT marketplace, a wallet, and a game into one ecosystem. Read on to see how mobile adoption, interoperability, and network effects may shape its future.

Transcript

many of the sky davis founders were some of the original nft collectors eighty percent of people play uh gamers uh are on mobile play to earn will be such a big um part of the economy um both on the crypto side on the gaming side i guess that wants me to point a question at you jiho you've been around for two years but like your growth over the las... Read More

Key Insights

• ❓ The founders' firsthand experience as NFT collectors and gamers contributed to the success of Axie Infinity.
• 🤩 Creating a vertically integrated NFT gaming ecosystem, complete with its own marketplace and wallet, is a key strategy for growth.
• 🖐️ The mobile platform is crucial for expanding the reach of play-to-earn gaming and driving NFT adoption.
• 🖐️ Play-to-earn gaming has the potential to become a significant part of the cryptocurrency economy.
• 🎮 Interoperability between play-to-earn games and assets creates opportunities for collaboration and competition within the ecosystem.
• 🖐️ Network effects play a vital role in the dominance of certain platforms and economies within the play-to-earn space.
• 🎮 Play-to-earn gaming guilds, like YGG, are strategically investing in multiple play-to-earn games to diversify and seize opportunities within emerging economies.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the future of play-to-earn gaming?

Play-to-earn is expected to become a large part of both the crypto economy and the gaming economy. Its next major step is mobile expansion, which could bring NFT-based games to the 80 percent of gamers who play on mobile.

Q: What caused Axie Infinity’s rapid growth?

The Sky Mavis founders were NFT collectors and gamers who built what they wanted to use while speaking with their community daily. Growth accelerated after the components of Axie Infinity’s ecosystem came together, culminating in the launch of the Ronin sidechain around April.

Q: What makes Axie Infinity a vertically integrated NFT gaming ecosystem?

Axie Infinity combines its own scalable sidechain, Ronin, with its own NFT marketplace, wallet, and game. Bringing these components together created a relatively unified and smooth experience, although Jeff Zirlin said more work remained.

Q: How quickly did Axie Infinity grow after the launch of Ronin?

Before the acceleration, weekly growth was described as roughly 5 percent. After Ronin launched around April, growth rose to approximately 25 to 40 percent week over week.

Q: Why is mobile important to play-to-earn gaming?

The discussion states that 80 percent of gamers are on mobile, making mobile the next major step toward NFT adoption. Letting people play wherever they go could help these games reach beyond their existing audience and build critical mass.

Q: What challenges does play-to-earn face on mobile?

The stated challenge is overcoming mobile UX and UI hurdles and blockers. Addressing them is necessary to reach more gamers and turn play-to-earn games into a gateway to NFTs and other parts of crypto.

Q: Can players move between different play-to-earn economies?

Players may move to another game for opportunities and later bring their earnings back to the Axie economy. The discussion compares these games to digital economies in which people, earnings, and capital can flow between ecosystems.

Q: How could NFT interoperability affect competition between play-to-earn games?

A game could let players use assets from another ecosystem, drawing attention and users from that original game. The transcript describes this as a possible competitive attack vector, while noting that these dynamics had not yet been seen and were still far away.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Many of the Sky Mavis founders were original NFT collectors and gamers, which drove the growth of their platform, Axie Infinity.

• Axie Infinity's approach of creating a vertically integrated NFT gaming ecosystem, complete with its own sidechain, marketplace, and wallet, led to significant growth.

• The expansion of play-to-earn gaming to mobile platforms is seen as the next big step for NFT adoption and offers potential for reaching a broader audience.