Sky Mavis, the company behind the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity, has announced a partnership with Ethereum-based NFT series CyberKongz to create a more comprehensive game for the Ronin blockchain ecosystem. The announcement also revealed the development of a new game, which will be interoperable by integrating with the existing Axie Infinity experience, according to Sky Mavis head of business development Kathleen Osgood.
As part of the partnership, CyberKongz's Play & Kollect game, a Polygon-based blockchain game that integrates Soulbound tokens and allows players to collect NFTs from within the game, will also migrate to the Ronin blockchain. This move is expected to expand CyberKongz's user base by accessing Ronin's core gaming community. Axie Infinity gained popularity in 2021 with its "Earn as you play" game mode, enabling players to earn crypto tokens while playing games. The game remains the top-selling item in the NFT space, according to data tracker CryptoSlam.
On the other hand, CryptoKongz made headlines in 2021 by burning $4 million worth of ETH during its minting event. Despite the initial NFT boom in 2021, interest in blockchain games has waned recently, and some cryptocurrency-based games, like Neopets, have moved away from blockchain methods.
Earlier this year, Sky Mavis co-founder Aleksander Larsen expressed that the play-and-earn model "doesn't work in its current state," emphasizing the importance of games being fun and having solid financial backing for players to make money. Nonetheless , Kathleen Osgood remains optimistic that a renaissance in the blockchain gaming space will come from games or experiences that truly understand the motivations driving users to Web3.
Sky Mavis has started opening its infrastructure to the Web3 ecosystem through the Ronin blockchain, aiming to create more valuable and longer-lasting gaming communities. According to Osgood, the potential to reach large audiences lies in innovative ways to leverage Web3 as a new experience, rather than simply copying what works in Web2. This approach allows teams to effectively leverage users who are intrinsically attracted to their unique offerings, leading to potential explosive growth.
