Ethereum-based NFT game Axie Infinity has crossed $1 billion in sales, data from CryptoSlam! shows.

As of this writing, $1,055,735 worth of tokens from the Pokémon-inspired NFT game have traded hands through 2.4 million transactions. There are 324,850 buyers, 936,065 owners, and more than a million daily active users.

The milestone is the latest piece of evidence to show that the blockchain game, launched in 2018, has truly gone viral this summer. Almost a fifth of Axie Infinity's sales took place in the past week and three quarters concluded in the past month.

Axie Infinity is the first NFT game to surpass $1 billion in sales. The next best-selling game is NBA Top Shot—the basketball trading card game, which runs on the Flow blockchain, has racked up $675 million in all-time sales—and Ethereum-based CryptoPunks, with $657 million.

What is Axie Infinity?

Shed the blockchain from Axie Infinity, and the game plays like a simple monster-battler. Axies have various stats that determine their fate in battles with other players, just like Pokémon.

The inclusion of cryptocurrencies makes the game a lot more lucrative than Pokémon, incentivizing players to spend and, with any luck, earn.

Crypto also makes Axie Infinity incredibly expensive. While a new Pokémon game costs well under $60 for a 100+ hour experience, a single Axie Infinity monster costs a couple of hundred dollars. Even this green shrub costs $60.

However, unlike Pokémon monsters, players are free to sell their Axie Infinity tokens on secondary markets—and, given today's high milestone of $1 billion, they clearly are. Developer Sky Mavis calls the model "play to earn."

In November 2020, the Vietnamese developer launched Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), a governance token that lets players vote on the future of the game. The token has boomed in the past month. On July 20, AXS had a market cap of $900 million; now, it has a market cap of $2.6 billion.

Sky Mavis has also launched a decentralized market for 90,601 plots of virtual land, from which players can develop their bases of operation, gather resources and craft items. Plots frequently sell for well over $10,000—even though most gameplay features for land haven't been implemented yet.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

Daily Debrief Newsletter

Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.