“I don’t know how quickly it’s going to change, but I can’t see how most games aren’t using blockchain in 10 years time,” is a mantra I’ve been repeating since 2018.
Thankfully for everyone, I can now stop.
In an occurrence of charming synchronicity, Axie Infinity today announced 1 million DAUs (67% via sideloaded APK on Android) and at time of writing is $5 million away from $1 billion of lifetime trading value for its NFTs.
Given it did $33 million of trading in the last 24 hours, the $1 billion mark will be reached in a few hours.
Yes, it’s just some symbolic numbers, but given the velocity of the game - player growth is currently 3x a month - it is something to celebrate, particularly for Axie Infinity’s co-founders - Jeff, Aleksander and Trung - and the rest of the team (mainly based in Vietnam).
And for the blockchain gaming sector in general.
For years, we’ve been asked when blockchain games will scale, go mass market etc. That’s another mantra we don’t have to worry about anymore.
By every metric - players, value, number of startups, venture funding, general interest, and well as criticism (expect a lot more of the latter), blockchain gaming has proven it’s now more than a niche techno bubble.
At this point I’m tempted to write it is going to disrupt the game sector hard. But actually I’ve come to believe it’s going to enhance gaming in a gentle yet powerful way few of us really yet predict.
Bringing transactional value to everything that happens in a game will be truly transformative.
Of course, there will be some egregious examples of manipulation and fraud. But these will be limited (if high profile) and eventually pale into insignificance compared to the new experiences and communities that can now be created and sustained over years, decades and lifetimes.
If nothing else, people will now have to think seriously about how they will pass on such assets to their children. It’s a revolution, but a glorious one.