If there was any doubt about the success of Axie Infinity, this sale of non-fungible token (NFT) confirms it. A parcel of the virtual universe (metaverse) was sold for nearly 2.5 million dollars. The point on the reasons of this craze.
A plot of Axie Infinity reaches a record price
The Axie Infinity parcel was sold for 550 ethers (ETH), which corresponded to nearly $2.5 million at the time of the sale. As with other metaverses that are currently in vogue, the Axie Infinity game offers virtual plots of land in the form of NFTs.
These plots are then used to house Axies, the creatures of the game, which give it its name. These creatures, somewhat reminiscent of Pokémon, are “bred” and can then participate in battles. They too are represented by NFTs registered on the blockchain.
The different plots are not necessarily of equal interest to players. The less common ones are the most in demand. The one that just sold for a record amount, the Genesis, is one of the rarest in the game: only 220 of them are available.
Hence the particularly high price. This would be the largest virtual land sale in history, according to Axie Infinity.
Play-to-earn is booming
Play-to-earn games, which allow users to win money, are booming right now. The virtual worlds of Decentraland, The Sandbox or Axie Infinity have started to bring in very large amounts of cryptocurrency.
And they are a democratizing vector for crypto-assets. According to Axie Infinity co-founder Aleksander Leonard Larsen, half of the game’s two million active users had never used a cryptocurrency app before they started playing.
Recently, major brands have shown interest in the subject: Adidas confirmed a plot purchase in The Sandbox last week. All of this seems to have accelerated since Facebook rebranded to Meta, and decided to fully embrace the metaverse. So this is an area to watch closely.
