Can Web3 gaming expand into esports focused ‘win to earn’? w/Axie.gg – SlateCast #37

Chief from AxieGG met with CryptoSlate’s Akiba to talk about AxieGG and the future of Web3 gaming and Axie Infinity‘s future in it.

What is AxieGG

AxieGG is a gaming guild organized by players and investors originally solely focused on Axie Infinity. The guild invests in top-tier digital assets from web3 games such as Axie Infinity. After a careful gamer selection process, guild members gain access to AxieGG’s “lethal lending library,” where they can trade their Axie characters.

Chief said he joined Axie four years ago by switching from trading card games. “Owning your pokemon sounds like a future to me,” Chief said and added that he was drawn to the idea of selling cards via crypto instead of trading like players used to do.

Soon after he started playing, He wanted to form a team to participate in esports tournaments and created AxieGG. “I kind of went from hand to hand,” he said, “in half a year, we won 90% of the tournaments we entered.”

Web3’s progress and potential

Referring to the number of different Web3 game types, Chief said everyone is just trying to do the right thing. There have been lots of trial and error, and many mistakes have been made in the Web3 gaming space. But, according to Chief, all these are done to discover the best method.

He said:

“Everyone out there is trying to do the right thing, but no one is quite sure what the right thing is yet… They’re trying everything, and in the next few years we’ll know what the best way is.”

While acknowledging that significant mistakes are still made in the gaming sphere, Chief also said that the potential of Web3 gaming is undeniable. While the mainstream people hate it, he said, intelligent Web3 people, understand the potential and admit that it makes sense.

Chief also said that the strong reaction of the mainstream gaming sphere is also a sign of the potential of Web3. He stated:

“The problem is they lose control. Web2 doesn’t want to give it up just like the gas industry doesn’t want electric cars to be a thing.”

Future of Web3 Gaming

When Akiba asked about Chief’s opinion on the future of Web3 gaming, Chief said that he expected the space to evolve into a winning-focused perspective where players are rewarded for their ability to be the best.

Giants of Web3 gaming like Polkastarter Gaming, Zilliqa, and Tyranno Studios have been expressing that the blockchain gaming space started to focus more on the gameplay rather than the ‘easy earning’ aspects.

On the other hand, Chief doesn’t directly agree with Axie’s competitors. According to Chief, “play to earn” will be transformed to “win to earn.” He argues that gaming should be competitive. People should be able to talk about it, host esports championships with it, and have streams.

In a way, Chief’s win-to-earn also leans towards a gameplay-focused perspective. He states:

“Win to earn. Because that’s how you build hype, build social media and create a narrative. You don’t earn just to push a button. You earn because you deserved it by winning.”

Future for Axie

Chief finalized his words by talking briefly about Axie Infinity’s future in the upcoming “win to earn” Web3 gaming space.

Referring to the Ronin Bridge attack back in March 2022, the Chief said Axie Infinity might be too big to fail. “Half a billion dollars just disappeared, and it was just like business as usual,” he said, “they had to give up some of their portions to pay for the mistakes they did. But they paid it now, and they’re coming back stronger.”

Regarding Axie’s place in the next evolution of Web3 gaming, Chief said that he didn’t expect Axie to be the leading game forever. “It’ll be around,” he assured the audience, “but Axie is too simple. We need a more complex game” to lead the future Web3 gaming sphere.

To experience the rest of the interview watch the full podcast linked above.