coinspress.com
Axie Infinity, a gaming platform utilizing blockchain technology, recently launched a new mobile game called Axie Infinity: Origins on the App Store, resulting in a significant increase in the value of its AXS token.
As per an official statement on May 17, the card-based strategy game aims to attract more users to the Axie Infinity ecosystem and is accessible to players for free, with non-NFT Axies provided at no cost to start.
Axie Infinity: Origins has been available on the Google Play store since December 2022. The iOS version of the game utilizes Sky Mavis’s Ethereum-based Ronin blockchain, enabling players to directly utilize compatible NFTs within the application. Notably, this marks the first instance of Apple allowing externally-purchased NFTs to be used on the App Store.
However, it’s important to note that not all game features are available on the iOS version. Only Moonshard crafting recipes will be visible, and while players can earn token rewards, these rewards won’t be visible within the iOS version. To enjoy the full range of features, users must play on the Android or desktop version of the game.
Axie Infinity: Origins will initially be available in selected Asian and Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Malaysia, among others. The developer intends to release the game to iOS users worldwide, although the specific date has not been disclosed.
As a result of the announcement, the value of AXS surged by 12.6% to $7.53172, but it retraced back to $7.40 at the time of writing.
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However, it’s worth noting that the long-term performance of AXS is less impressive. Over the last 30 days, the token has experienced a decline of more than 17% and has lost 64% of its value in a year. Compared to its all-time high of $164.90 in November 2021, AXS is currently over 90% lower.
Additionally, as Active Player data indicates, Axie Infinity has seen a significant drop in average player numbers. In the past month, the play-to-earn (P2E) game had fewer than 400,000 players, a sharp decrease from the over 2 million players it had between September 2021 and May 2022.
During this period, the trading volume of Axie Infinity NFTs amounted to $2.3 million across 139,784 transactions, as reported by CryptoSlam data.