Written by: Mu Mu

After Pudgy Penguin, Doodles and other blue-chip NFTs developed peripheral businesses, Web3 Gold FarmingThe "ancestor" of the game, Axie Infinity, has also started selling products.

Recently, Axie launched an online store to commercialize 4,877 NFTs in the game and sell them as dolls, T-shirts, hoodies, cartoon stickers and other peripherals. In order to promote sales, Axie also gave away Mystic Axie NFTs for free to the first 5,000 buyers.

How to develop incremental markets is what Web3 brands are currently working towards. The combination of NFTs and Web3 games that produce NFTs with physical objects is becoming one of the ways to expand influence and generate economic benefits.

Unfortunately, after the release of Axie peripherals, the transaction volume of NFT in the game has dropped toCommunityThe number of users has not increased significantly, and this Web3 game IP does not seem to have really reached the Web2 crowd. On the contrary, the return of the Axie Classic game has not only brought activity, but also promoted the game.Token The price of AXS.

It can be seen that if Web3 games want to get out of the trough, they have to return to the game itself.

Unable to sell NFT, resell dolls

If you know the concept of Web3 games or GameFi, then you must have heard of Axie Infinity, which the Chinese-speaking world likes to call "Axie".

This cute TGC game (collectible card game) was used by millions of Filipinos to supplement their household income during the pandemic.make moneyThe "Play To Earn" model has also become the mainstream model of Web3 games because of Axie.

Axie Infinity was created by Sky Mavis. The game has two key features: players purchase NFT-based game characters to complete tasks, fight, upgrade NFT characters, or obtain in-game rewards.Token AXS; then earn income by selling AXS or NFT.

This model has even spawned a business of renting game characters.Gold FarmingGame communities have emerged, specializing in renting characters to players; a longer-tail derivative application is to pledge game NFTs to borrow USDT, BTC, ETH and other crypto assets.

Game therefore has the characteristics of Finance, and the concept of GameFi was born.

At its peak in 2021, Axie's highest daily revenue reached an astonishing $17.5 million, with daily active users (DAU) exceeding 1.5 million, and the project's total revenue in 30 days reached $300 million, surpassing the profitability of most traditional games.

But Axie didn't stay at the top for long. It started to lose growth after more than half a year, and any subsequent marketing activities failed to bring it back to the top. Crypto Slam data shows that by the end of November 2023, Axie's monthly sales were only $28,000. DappRader data shows that the floor price and market value of Axie Infinity NFT have also fallen to the bottom.

Axie NFT’s floor price and market value are no longer what they used to be

Axie has proven that blockchain games can reach millions of DAUs, and the next question is how to break through 10 million DAUs. Some practitioners believe that this requires Web3 games to penetrate the influence of traditional Web2 game players.

At the end of November this year, Axie started doing this and launched an online store, selling badges with the project logo, Axie character shirts, hats, accessories, Squishmallow-style plush toys, $300 worth of figures, etc., supportingcryptocurrencyAnd legal tender dual payment.

In addition to selling peripherals, Axie also encourages the UGC ecosystem, unlocking the copyright restrictions of 4,877 NFTs in the Mystic and Origin series. Users who own these NFTs can sell their own designed products in stores. Not only that, they can also use the NFT characters they hold to carry out Axie-themed businesses, such as cafes, restaurants, comics, and other businesses.

A more powerful move is that Axie Infinity has cooperated with the Philippine taxi app Grab to launch a user points reward program to open up distribution channels from mainstream Web2 applications. In the Grab App, users can visit Axie's online store to purchase peripherals.

Axie provides online store access on Grab

In addition, Axie has also cooperated with game development studios such as Tribes Studio, Bali Games, Directive Games and Bowled.io, allowing some games to use Axie IP to make games.

It can be seen that Axie is working hard to open the boundaries of Web3 game IP and wants to strengthen its connection with the Web2 world in more fields in order to expand its brand awareness and is eager for the arrival of new traffic.

IP is not working, game improvement promotes growth

So, has this series of actions by Axie brought it new growth?

Data shows that since Axie launched its online store,CommunityThe number of people has not increased significantly, and the appeal to incremental Web2 users is not great. In fact, among the 11.9 million Axie character NFTs, less than 5,000 have lifted commercial restrictions. According to Axie market data, this part of NFTs only accounts for 0.04% of all Axie NFTs.

Looking at Axie's developments over the past six months, it's not hard to see that the real driver of the increase in daily activity is the game itself.

On November 22, just before Axie went online in the online store, the game's classic series Axie Classic returned, upgrading the gaming experience, including allowing AXP character inheritance, increasing the AXS reward pool, and setting up the ultimate prize "Mysterious Axe". In addition, Axie has lowered the threshold to enter the arena and removed the game's "energy" requirements, allowing players to play without restrictions.

Axie Classic Reboot

The revamp of Axie Classic has reignited the enthusiasm of old players and attracted the interest of new players. In just a few days, Axie Classic has reached 100,000 weekly active users, and the price of AXS has also continued to rise.

Compared with launching NFT physical products, actions based on improving gameplay can improve Axie's data more immediately. Axie has tasted the sweetness of this approach before.

今年 9 月 6 日，打金社团 Yield Guild Games（YGG）在 Ronin 网络上成功完成了首个 Axie Infinity 设置的超级任务活动，获得了 112000 个 AXS 代币（约合 472000 美元）的奖励发放。当时，这波刺激也为 Axie 带来了新的活跃度。

All this shows that Web3 game IP is still far from breaking out of the circle, and marketing activities are still stirring up the existing market. New Web2 users are much more difficult to reach than old Web3 users.

No one denies that IP peripherals can help more people know the brand, but you have to firstXiaobai NavigationFor Web3 games, IP is not a life-saving gift, but at most a bonus, and timing is also very important.

In the golden age of American animation, the Mickey Mouse IP Club gained 1 million members in less than 4 years. This was because Disney first successfully introduced the Mickey Mouse IP to the audience market through animated stories, and then brought this IP to comics and video games. By 2010, 40% of Disney's $1 billion in consumer product revenue came from Mickey merchandise.

The well-known NFT "Bored Ape" illustrates the importance of timing for IP. After seeing the exposure of "Bored Ape" in the Web2 market, Yuga Labs quickly promoted IP cooperation with traditional brands, attracted the marketing departments of enterprises including Li Ning in China, and further promoted the breakthrough of "Bored Ape" IP.

If Axie could launch a peripheral store and expand its brand influence when it first became popular, it might actually become an IP that surpasses Web3 games.

Unfortunately, the time has passed and everything needs to be started over again. Nowadays, what really makes Web3 games sticky is the game quality, gameplay, experience, and even the rate of return, which are more important than the release of peripheral products.Web3 Game BigTimeis an example.

加密 KOL@0xJamesXXX 认为，「不要整天想着做 IP 化，还有各种所谓的权益赋能」，他指出，任何 NFT Community最重要的是「人」，一个拥有社区共识并能够产生价值的项目就已经打败 99% 的 NFT 项目。

IP is not a universal formula, and it also puts a challenge in front of Web3 games: whether to build products that Web3 players are truly interested in, or to use traditional Internet methods to cater to new Web2 users.

Now, Axie chooses to take both into account, so this IP will have to wait for the next release of the game itself.

The article comes from the Internet:Sales did not bring Axie Infinity back to the top

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