After recording $4.26 billion in total non-fungible token (NFT) sales, the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity’s monthly player count has dropped to levels not seen since November 2020, a period of 26 months. Despite the low player count, the project’s native token, AXS, has climbed 62% higher against the U.S. dollar in the last 30 days.
Axie Infinity’s Native Token AXS Climbs 62% Despite Continued Decrease in Monthly Players
The non-fungible token-based online video game Axie Infinity once had millions of monthly players, with a peak of 2.78 million in Jan. 2022, according to activeplayer.io statistics. With Jan. not quite over, the last 30 days indicate an average of 432,001 players to date. During Dec. 2022, there were 468,805 players, a low not seen in over two years, since Nov. 2020.
Axie held an average of two million monthly players for eight consecutive months between Oct. 2021 and May 2022. After May, the average monthly player count dropped to 958,044, or 1,202,210 fewer players than the previous month. Over the next four months, Axie’s monthly player count remained above 700,000, but in November 2022, it slipped to 556,058.
The last month of 2022 and the first month of 2023 also saw dismal numbers. As far as all-time NFT sales are concerned, the project developed by Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis has recorded $4.26 billion in total NFT sales, more than top NFT markets like Magic Eden, Looksrare, X2Y2, Rarible, and Atomicmarket.
According to data from cryptoslam.io, sales on Axie’s Ronin chain saw a 41% increase over the last 30 days compared to the previous month. Ronin sales over the last 30 days totaled $1,418,842, and Ronin is the ninth-largest blockchain in terms of monthly sales this month. Axie Infinity’s native token, AXS, has performed well this month, increasing by 62% against the U.S. dollar over the last 30 days.
Two-week statistics show AXS is up 67% against the greenback. On Jan. 22, 2023, AXS was trading at prices between $8.95 and $11.84, gaining 24% on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. AXS is the 42nd largest crypto market capitalization, with a valuation of around $1.31 billion.
Despite the recent lift, AXS is still down from its $164 per unit high on November 6, 2021, and is down 93% since that day. The play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity’s player count is significantly lower than some of the top played games today. For instance, activeplayer.io shows that Overwatch 2’s active number of monthly players was around 23 million in the last 30 days and 23 million during Dec. 2022.
Call of Duty: Mobile Live Player had 58,502,111 average monthly players in the last 30 days and 58,001,154 during Dec. 2022. In comparison, Axie Infinity’s player count is a small fraction of these games with very high monthly player counts. Specifically, Axie’s Dec. 2022 average monthly player count represented 0.81% of Call of Duty’s average monthly player count.
What do you think is the future for Axie Infinity and its native token, AXS, given the decrease in monthly players? Share your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.