It was certainly a godsend to the people who made a good living from it, but I don't think its a trend that would continue to infinity, especially as more and more people found out about it, driving the price of the token they were earning and selling over and over. Demand for the game would have to continue to pick up, which I don't think that it did -- although its certainly an interesting economic model that is likely to continue well into the future.
I agree.
The biggest problem I see with it are the values. They are not sustaineable for a game that just released. Who the hell is paying 40,000 USD to an Axe? That just looks like a Ponzi or just some price manipulation to pump the game/token?
For more seasoned players, or those with greater risk appetite, higher returns can be made by trading the Axies themselves. Inton has dabbled in this space, breeding Axies and selling them for as much as 2,000 PHP ($41). Just last week, two very rare Axies were sold for 60 and 90 ETH. The highest price ever fetched for a single Axie currently sits at 110 ETH.
https://www.coindesk.com/nft-game-filipinos-covidI know that there are valuable items in games. I am a gamer myself for nearly 40 years.
I know there are valuable items/characters in WoW for example. But WoW is a game that is nearly 20 years old (released 2004). Some characters and items are old and have too much work on them. And the values are not that high!
But certainly, that is amazing for filipinos and who else is making money from it to support their family in this dark times.
Who is paying $40,000 for an Axie? Someone who believes it is undervalued at the moment.
There are Axies worth that much
The Axie landplay game coming out next year have plots worth over $50,000
I would look into it.
Imagine those in game assets sold by other players, and not the developers. The developers of Axie Infinity sold the land, and original Axies, now it has its own economy. The debs take 4% on all trades on their marketplace, if you don't trust the trader. This is only the beginning. You will see land and Rare Axies go for millions in the future.
The more players the better. It is not only sustainable if "everyone tried to play to earn", but would be even better than it is now.
You earn by battling your Axies
You earn Small Love Potion <SLP>
SLP is needed to breed Axies
New players need Axies, that you can only buy from Breeders
Breeders can't breed without SLP
New players sell SLP to breeders
More new players > More Demand for SLP
Breeders can only breed Axies 7 times, and each time more SLP is needed
The math works
All the growth metrics are a hockey stick
-google searches
-Axie vol
-Land vol
-new players
-slp vol
Their governance token is launching very soon