Axie Infinity Introducing Major Changes to Rejuvenate its Failing Economic Model

^(Source)

Evening

So the popular Ethereum game Axie Infinity which boomed last year is introducing tokenomic changes to revive its crumbling economy.

Axie Infinity play to earn model is under stress, ever since SLP price started declining from its all time high of $0.40 in August last year. SLP price plummeted below $0.10 in September and kept sinking till now, hitting pennies.

NFT trading volume on Axie Infinity market place have been in continuous decline, falling from $754 million in November to $301 million in December and to $126 million in January this year. Mean while prices of Axies are in free fall too, especially the entry level Axies which are selling as low as $25 in contrast to a minimum of $200 a few months ago. Moreover the number of daily active players have also been declining, indicating reduced interest due to a failing play to earn model.

So in response to a failing play to earn model, Axie Infinity is introducing changes to rejuvenate the decaling economy. The new changes will curb the SLP emission rate to counter the token excessive inflation. Currently only one fourth of the emitted SLP gets burned as a result of breeding.

As per announcement:

• Adventure mode SLP will be sunset (reduced to 0). This includes rewards for first time completion.
• Daily quest SLP will be sunset (reduced to 0).
• Arena reward structure will be changed dramatically (reduced SLP rewards and AXS leaderboard massively expanded).
• Sub 800 MMR players will now earn 1 SLP per win. We want to be considerate for players with weaker Axies so we’re adding this back in (for now).
• We are considering reworking the energy system to scale more linearly, making additional energy more accessible and boosting demand for weaker Axies.

The new changes will be introduced with upcoming season 20. So with SLP supply crunch the price of SLP may stabilize, but for long term, I believe Axie Infinity might gonna need to introduce more SLP sumps.
The best taking out of the upcoming changes is consideration for entry level players with weaker Axies. The new changes are gonna make the game sufficiently rewarding for new players.

Last year Axie Infinity expanded quickly (may be way too quickly) with big monies flowing in. And the game with its weak economic model were might not be ready for that kind of expansion. The new changes might be able to stop the bleeding but major revamping of the economic model might just be needed if there is any hope of a future long term revival.