Sky Mavis opened an early presale for Axie Infinity, letting people begin adopting Axie NFTs (non-fungible tokens that represent unique ownership). This helped form an initial market and community before the game’s later growth.
The Axie Marketplace opened, creating a dedicated place to buy and sell Axie NFTs. A live marketplace mattered because it turned gameplay assets into tradeable property with visible prices and liquidity.
The team published a whitepaper describing Axie Infinity’s goals and its player-owned economy approach. This document helped explain how NFTs and tokens would support a community-run game ecosystem over time.
Axie Infinity launched its battle system on Ethereum mainnet (the primary Ethereum blockchain). Running on mainnet made ownership and transfers of game assets more directly tied to on-chain activity, but also exposed users to Ethereum transaction costs.
Axie Infinity announced its first land sale, offering NFT land plots in its world (Lunacia). Land sales expanded the economy beyond creatures, encouraging longer-term speculation and plans for future land-based gameplay.
Sky Mavis reported that AXS (Axie Infinity Shards), the project’s governance token, went live on major exchanges including Binance and Uniswap. AXS strengthened the “virtual property” narrative by linking participation to a token used for governance and other ecosystem roles.
Axie Infinity launched a public testnet for Ronin, an Ethereum sidechain designed to reduce fees and support more in-game transactions. This move addressed a key problem for play-to-earn economies: high transaction costs can block routine player activity.
Axie Infinity announced completion of its migration to the Ronin sidechain. Moving core activity to Ronin aimed to make frequent trades and reward claims smoother, which was important as the player base and marketplace activity grew.
Sky Mavis reported more than 1.8 million daily users in August 2021 and strong daily sales volume as Axie Infinity’s play-to-earn model expanded. This period is often treated as the economic peak because player growth and marketplace demand reinforced each other.
Axie Infinity adjusted Smooth Love Potion (SLP) rewards, including lowering SLP from Adventure mode and daily quests while shifting incentives toward PvP (player-vs-player). These changes were an early attempt to slow inflation in a token economy where players can earn and sell rewards.
Sky Mavis announced a $152 million Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), highlighting Axie Infinity’s rapid growth. The funding supported further development of the game and its infrastructure during the height of the play-to-earn boom.
Ahead of Season 20, Axie Infinity announced major economic balancing: SLP rewards from Adventure mode and the daily quest were reduced to zero. This marked a turning point from “easy” token earning toward tighter reward design, reflecting how hard it is to keep a play-to-earn economy stable.
Attackers stole large amounts of crypto from the Ronin Bridge, a system that moved assets between Ronin and Ethereum. The hack damaged trust in the ecosystem and showed how “bridge” infrastructure can become a major risk when real money is tied to virtual property.
After the Ronin hack, Sky Mavis said it raised $150 million to help reimburse affected users, alongside company resources. This response aimed to limit long-term damage to the play-to-earn economy by addressing losses that could have pushed players and investors away.
Sky Mavis reopened the Ronin Bridge after audits and added protections like a circuit breaker and withdrawal limits. Reopening restored basic economic functions—moving funds on and off Ronin—but the episode underscored that security and sustainable incentives are central to virtual economies.
Axie Infinity play-to-earn economy (2018–2022)