Axie Infinity Developer: From a Startup to a Super-profitable Project

With the rise in popularity of NFT, there has been a boom in decentralized gaming. One of the major hits in this market was the Vietnamese Axie Infinity, and its founder and developer Nguyen Thanh Chung became the most talked person.

First, let’s glance at what Axie Infinity is.

What is Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is a decentralized game. Vietnamese studio Sky Mavis created it. In it, users breed and collect «axi» creatures. One of the sources of inspiration for the project was the Pokémon franchise.

All significant transactions within Axie Infinity are performed using unique AXS tokens. They trade in the region of $ 70 apiece. Over the past year, the cost of one AXS token has soared by 934% against the dollar and by 840% against Bitcoin.

New players in Axie Infinity do not receive a starter set of creatures — they have to be bought on the marketplace for real money. Each axi is a separate NFT, the ownership of which is assigned to the user.

Axie Infinity developers do not get all the money from selling axies in the marketplace. Instead, tokens are distributed among players and accumulated in a unique treasury, which is the basis of the in-game economy. Users are charged a fee for internal payments and breeding creatures.

However, the main component of income is the sale and purchase of land plots. It’s the territory where users manage their axes, expand their possessions and collect rare resources.

Thus, Axie Infinity has formed its economy, built around the «play to earn» principle. On this basis, it falls under the definition of a metaverse. The developers intend to develop the project in this direction.

Axie Infinity has reached some all-time highs, namely:

  1. Total trading turnover at Axie Infinity topped $ 1 billion, making it the highest-grossing NFT game on the market.
  2. Axie Infinity generated 1.5 million transactions totaling $ 815 million.
  3. DAU of the project has reached 1 million users.
  4. The most expensive axi in the game was a creature named Sir Gregory sold for 369 ETH (about $ 819 thousand).

The Story of the Axie Infinity Developer

The founder and Axie Infinity developer is Nguyen Thanh Chung.

Even before his success, the young businessman impressed others with his passion for games and the role of electronic games in his life. Chung was particularly interested in how the world within games is not bound by various obligations, as in the real world.

When young Nguyen was in high school, he spent a lot of time playing in internet cafes. His passion for games led him to a passion for technology. At the age of eight, Chung got to know programming very early, shortly after touching a computer.

The programming immediately attracted the young Chung. He was delighted when the computer acted according to the commands he entered. Nguyen gained his knowledge of programming primarily through reading books. The first book he read about programming was Pascal Exercise Solutions.

Faced with choosing between studying information technology and studying foreign trade, Chung decided to leave his sophomore year to focus on his startup, despite his family’s concerns and protests.

With his first success, Chung left the startup to return to school. The Axie Infinity CEO honestly said it was difficult as he didn’t know what to do next. Chung resumed his studies to fulfill responsibilities to his family and himself.

The Birth of the Idea of ​​a Blockchain-based Game

Once upon a time, Chung did not like blockchain. Before Axie Infinity, people often talked about ICOs and Bitcoin. At that moment, according to Chung, not everyone needed capital to develop blockchain projects inappropriate ways. Some people view ICOs as products. It was contrary to Chung’s professional ethics as a process engineer.

But one day, Chung tried it and realized that blockchain is not as bad as he had previously imagined. In his opinion, the key is how to apply the technology.

Chung decided to give it a try. When the game began to receive positive feedback from the community, Chung decided to focus on the project all the time.

Axie Infinity is the brainchild of Chang and four co-founders, including Tu Doan. The other three are Alexander Larsen from Norway, Jeffrey Zirlin from the USA, and Andy Ho.

Chung met the foreign co-founders through a blockchain-based game they played together. They always worked online and never met face to face.

Nguyen Thanh Chung’s Path to the Dollar Billionaire

Initially, the developers of the game did not overthink the profitability of Axie Infinity. They just wanted to do something new. And being excited about games, they tried to gain some changes to the industry.

The success and growth of Axie Infinity have far exceeded the team’s expectations.

At the same time, it is wrong to call Nguyen Thanh Chung a dollar billionaire. It’s because the AXS’ market capitalization is entirely different from Sky Mavis’ capitalization. The company has several AXS, but the number of tokens is locked.

Axie Infinity developers own 21% of the total AXS quantity. The company owns 17%, and 4% is a developers’ bonus. Out of capitalization in $ 2.4 billion, the creators own $ 500 million.