Overview
Axie Infinity is a blockchain game made by Sky Mavis, a studio based in Vietnam. Players collect cute creatures called Axies (NFTs), breed them and battle them. It launched in 2018.
In 2021, Axie became the symbol of play-to-earn: players, especially in the Philippines, earned tokens that could be sold for real money, sometimes more than local wages. “Scholarship” guilds lent Axies to players who couldn’t afford them. At its peak, Axie had millions of daily players and billions of dollars in NFT sales.
How it works
- Players need Axies to play the main modes; some free starter Axies exist.
- Battles and activities earn rewards, historically in SLP (Smooth Love Potion) and AXS.
- AXS is the governance and staking token, used for breeding and in-game purchases.
- Everything runs on Ronin, Sky Mavis’s own blockchain, which now hosts other games such as Pixels.
The crash and the hack
The play-to-earn model relied on new players buying Axies. When growth slowed in late 2021, token prices collapsed and players’ earnings fell below the cost of playing.
In March 2022, hackers linked to North Korea stole about $625 million from the Ronin bridge, one of the largest hacks in crypto history. Sky Mavis raised money to repay users, but the damage to trust was lasting.
Rebuilding in 2025–2026
- Atia’s Legacy, an open-world MMO built around Axies, held its first alpha test in September 2025 and is in testing in 2026, with a full launch targeted for 2026.
- In January 2026, Sky Mavis introduced bAXS, a non-transferable in-game token backed 1:1 by AXS, and stopped SLP rewards in Origins mode, cutting token inflation.
- Sky Mavis has announced plans to turn Ronin into an Ethereum Layer 2.
The AXS token
| AXS at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Maximum supply | 270 million AXS |
| In circulation (Oct 2026) | about 176 million |
| Price (29 Oct 2026) | about $0.95 |
| All-time high | about $165 (November 2021) |
| Market cap | about $170 million |
Axie Infinity vs. the competition
| Axie Infinity | Immutable | The Sandbox | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Game + own chain (Ronin) | Gaming platform | Metaverse game |
| Known for | Play-to-earn, Axies | Gods Unchained, Passport | Virtual land |
| Token | AXS | IMX | SAND |
Our verdict
Axie Infinity proved that blockchain games could attract millions of players, and Sky Mavis is still building, with a new MMO, tighter token economics and the Ronin chain.
But the original model collapsed, the 2022 hack is a lasting scar, and AXS has lost about 99% of its value. AXS is a high-risk bet on Atia’s Legacy and Ronin bringing players back. Invest only what you can afford to lose.
This review is for information only and is not financial advice.