Key Takeaways
- Sky Mavis has teased the production of a new Axie Infinity game.
- Axie Infinity has processed over $4.3 billion in trading volumes since launching in 2018.
- AXS is trading up at $8.17 with a market cap of $1.25 billion following the news.
Sky Mavis, the company behind one of Web3 gaming’s greatest success stories, Axie Infinity, has announced a round of layoffs that are “unrelated” to its finances but instead to “sharpen” its focus in a bid for hypergrowth in 2025.
Axie Infinity Layoffs
According to Trung Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Sky Mavis, the company is making a “shift in priorities” and is set to fire 21% of its staff.
Though Axie Infinity’s dwindling trading volumes and floor prices would be a logical reason as to why one-fifth of the staff, Nguyen is adamant that it has nothing to do with revenues or finances.
“I want to be absolutely clear: this decision is not related to the company’s budget or financial health. Instead, it is a strategic move that allows for a sharper focus and positioning Sky Mavis for hypergrowth in 2025 and beyond.“
The number of staff Sky Mavis has on hand varies between sources. A 2023 interview suggests they had 250 on the team, though other sources point to somewhere around or just under 200 people on staff as of 2024.
In 2021, Axie Infinity was posting daily trading volumes in the tens of millions. This figure fell off a cliff in early 2022 and has rarely exceeded $100,000 since.
New Priorities
In Nyugen’s post, he explains that the move is a bid to free up resources despite what he describes as a year of “valuable growth and evolution.”
Instead, it’s about time for Sky Mavis to focus on Ronin, the marketplace, Web3 games publishing, and the creation of a “new Axie game.” According to Nguyen, the move is about “positioning Sky Mavis for hypergrowth in 2025 and beyond.”
Though markets are considerably bullish at the moment, the Axie Infinity token, AXS, has relished sturdy gains, climbing over 11% from a 24-hour low of $7.19 to a month-high of $8.17.
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
