Axie Infinity Co-Founder Aleksander Larsen Still Believes Blockchain Games Will Create Jobs for Hundreds of Millions of People

Despite millions in venture funding, crypto versions of big-budget AAA games have failed to materialize.

Despite the fanfare surrounding blockchain games and the millions in venture funding poured into the space, crypto versions of big-budget AAA games have failed to materialise.

But Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis, still believes in the potential of crypto games.

In fact, he told DL News in an interview that the best days for crypto games are yet to come.

“The potential for blockchain games is actually to be a provider of jobs for hundreds of millions of people around the world,” Larsen said. “It will create GDP for the world in a way that we have never even thought about.”

“That is actually not dystopian to me,” he added.

Larsen’s enthusiasm may come as a surprise, especially considering the fate of Axie Infinity, which was once a crypto phenomenon.

In 2021, it was the most popular game in crypto and its token soared to a $10 billion market value as Bitcoin hit all-time highs.

But the game quickly lost its appeal. Many players fled as the game’s AXS token crashed by 96%. Some critics even likened the way the game functioned to a pyramid scheme.

Many players, however, are still nostalgic for the days when they could make thousands of dollars a month playing the game, Larsen said.

“They love the connection that they had with their guild mates,” he said.

It’s this camaraderie and community building, Larsen said, that could propel crypto games to new heights.

But there’s also a darker side to the hyper financial world of crypto gaming that the industry may find difficult to reconcile.

Defining ‘Fun’

One common criticism of blockchain games is that they aren’t fun in the same way more conventional games are.

Players have described Axie Infinity as boring and stressful, and admitted they only played it because they could make money doing so.

Larsen argues that the definition of fun is broader.

“I think games are entertaining,” he said. “I’m a competitive gamer. When I play games, I want to win. I want to crush someone. I’m not smiling when I’m playing a game. To me, it’s not necessarily fun — It’s entertaining.”

But in Axie Infinity, winning or losing isn’t just about one’s prestige in the game — it determines how much money players make.

Axie isn’t the first time video games and finance have intersected.

Players earning in-game currency and selling it to other players for cash is an enduring phenomenon in popular multiplayer role-playing games, despite the practice usually being against the rules.

However, in those games, participating in their shadow economies is optional. Most players don’t view their in-game items as having an explicit dollar value.

But in Axie Infinity, the financialisation is ingrained.

It’s this feature that has created the most problems, but also potentially allows the game to create jobs and wealth as Larsen envisions.

Luring New Players

At its peak, Axie Infinity boasted some 2.7 million monthly active users. That’s dropped to just 325,000 over the past 30 days.

Sky Mavis is exploring new ways to get more people playing.

“We always look for distribution platforms — how can we get users who are not into blockchain through different channels,” Larsen said.

Telegram, and the tap-to-earn games on its associated TON blockchain, are of great interest. These simple mobile games centre around players taping their screens to progress. One game, called Catizen, claims to have over 3.3 million daily players.

But there are reasons to be sceptical. Such tap-based games lack depth. Many players are only there because of the promise of a token airdrop.

Larsen wants to make better use of the opportunity.

He said Sky Mavis is in the process of launching its first games inside Telegram using its in-house crypto wallet called Ronin.

“It’s actually not about the games themselves,” he said. “It’s about the access to the users on the network.”

Saddled With Debt

But even with a good distribution network, Axie Infinity needs to be compelling.

At the heart of the game’s previous success was its ability to make players rich.

Players earn valuable tokens through the game. But to participate, they need those tokens to create Axies, the cute Pokemon-like creatures key to Axie Infinity’s gameplay.

As more people saw the money they could make playing the game, demand for Axies — and the tokens needed to create them — exploded.

By mid-2021, rich western players, tired of grinding the game themselves, were outsourcing the job to those in developing countries like the Philippines, a practice known as providing scholarships.

Many players in the Philippines profited from