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Sky Mavis, the company behind the popular play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain game Axie Infinity, has announced a partnership with Ethereum-based Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection CyberKongz to create a more comprehensive gaming ecosystem for the Ronin blockchain.
In the announcement, the company also teased the creation of a new game, although it provided only scant details about the game’s upcoming development. However, Kathleen Osgood, head of business development at Sky Mavis, told Cointelegraph in a statement that the new game will be compatible by integrating with the existing Axie Infinity experience.
Apart from the new game, the announcement also highlights that CyberKongz’s Play & Kollect game — a Polygon-based blockchain game that pools soul-pegged tokens and allows players to collect NFTs within the game — is also moving to the Ronin blockchain. According to the announcement, the transition to the Ronin blockchain will allow CyberKongz to expand its user base by accessing the core Ronin gaming community.
Axie Infinity became popular in 2021 thanks to the introduction of a new gaming paradigm called “play to earn”. This allowed players to earn cryptocurrency tokens for the game. According to the NFT data tracker CryptoSlam, the game remains the best project in terms of sales. On the other hand, CryptoKongz also made headlines in 2021 for burning $4 million of Ether (ETH) in five hours during its mining.
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Compared to the NFT craze in 2021, interest in blockchain gaming has declined recently as some crypto-based games like Neopets have moved to a non-cryptocurrency approach.
Earlier this year, Alexander Larsen, co-founder of Sky Mavis, told Cointelegraph that the “play to earn” model “doesn’t work in its current state.” On Jan. 12, Larsen emphasized that games need to be fun first and foremost and require strong economic support to enable players to earn.
Despite this, Osgood remains confident that the catalyst for the renaissance of the blockchain gaming space will be a game or experience that “really understands the underlying motives that drive users to Web3.”
A lot of the teams in that space were only trying to copy and paste what worked in Web2, according to the CEO. However, Osgood believes that this will not be a catalyst for explosive growth. She explained:
“The potential to reach a wide audience lies in the innovative approach to using Web3 as a new experience while effectively engaging users who are naturally drawn to its unique offerings.”
Osgood also told Cointelegraph that Sky Mavis has begun exposing its infrastructure to the Web3 ecosystem via the Ronin blockchain. The chief executive said this could lead to gaming communities that are more rewarding and long lasting.
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