It has all the hallmarks of a Pokemon game.

You collect cartoonish creatures and use them to battle against other players.

Some are rarer than others, inspiring envy in fellow trainers.

But this game doesn’t run on a Nintendo console.

It’s built on a blockchain.

In Axie Infinity, players put their team of Axies against an opposing player’s team.

Players with two Axies can use SLP to breed more, which can then be sold to new players.

And this business can be lucrative.

“One 22-year-old says he bought two houseswith his winnings.

Sky Mavis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

As such, victims of the hack will recover approximately one-third of their losses.

Gaming studios were no exception.

The question is as contentious as cryptocurrency itself.

Playing to earn vs. playing for fun

NFTsare polarizing.

As cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether skyrocketed to all-time highs, newly mintedcrypto millionairesbegan speculating on NFT digital art.

Still, proponents argue that NFTs mark a new cultural shift that will upend digital ownership.

The question gaming companies are trying to work out is how to best use the tech.

Axie Infinity exemplifies the P2E trend, along with games like Guild of Guardians and Galaxy Fight Club.

For a time, players found different ways to earn a living off the game.

Some farmed SLP tokens, bred Axies and sold them to players.

Virtual land in the game was sold forthousands, or evenmillionsof dollars' worth of cryptocurrency.

Those days are over for now.

Whether games like Axie Infinity are economically sustainable is stillup for debate.

Since Axie Infinity has stopped generating revenue for players, there’s now less of a reason to play.

This is the same pitch gaming giants may increasingly be making to their players.

That people are eager to pay real-world money for in-game items isn’t up for debate.

Particularly passionate players are also willing to pay high sums for rare items.

It’s a well-documented phenomenon now for rare items in popular video games to sell foruber high prices.

In December, Ubisoft integrated NFTs into squad shooter Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

In Breakpoint, players can own NFTs called “Digits” independent of the game.

The reaction to Ubisoft’s NFT experiment has been overwhelmingly negative.

As of December, Ubisoft had soldfewer than 20 NFTs.

Ubisoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We’re trying to describe Amazon in 1993, before it was created,” said Pachter.

The digital world moves fast, and the dominant players can easily change.

I would have said AOL.

Because they were the dominant player.”

Gaming companies are split

Just because NFTs can go in video games doesn’t mean they should.

This isthe viewnot just of concerned experts, but also somegamersthemselves.

Steam, one of the largest digital video-game stores in the world,outright bannedblockchain-related video games.

One assumes that enthusiasm has now been tempered.

But whether or not NFTs become a lasting trend in the gaming worldwill depend on the gamers.

As always, the players will decide.

This story was originally published in January 2022 and updated in July 2022.