Sky Mavis Game Product Lead Philip La announced several updates for the Builders Program for Axie Infinity which has been in limbo since the introduction of the Ronin sidechain. According to La, there are several factors to consider to ensure the program is balanced and Builders are rewarded “while ensuring that the community and the ecosystem is protected.”
As I mentioned in the previous thread (https://t.co/jegF9TsLTg), there are numerous factors to balance including making sure Builders are rewarded but also ensuring that the community and ecosystem is protected.
— Philip La (@philipla) March 8, 2022
In La’s tweet, he said it will take at least a few more weeks to complete as there are several internal and legal iterations to go through. “Once that’s complete we’ll release an updated blog post,” he said.
What exactly is the Builders Program?
For those who are unfamiliar, the Axie Infinity Builders Program was created in order to give community developers the tools and resources they need to create new gaming experiences on top of Axie. This means developers can create and share games built on the idea of Axie Infinity.
In the past, members of the community have experimented with ideas such as early minigames like Flappy Axie, Axie Sushi and even an Axie MOBA. These experiments drove engagement in the community but were unfortunately discontinued upon the introduction of Ronin.
Some benefits of joining the Builders Program include a $5k grant in AXS towards a project, guidance toward game design, and even exclusive access to integrations such as the Ronin network and even promotion of their project by Sky Mavis to the community.
What direction Is the Program taking?
La, in his statement, said that there are many significant risks involved in allowing people to build over their IP. He cited that this was the reason why major brands such as Marvel, Star Wars, or Pokemon are very protective over their IPs as well. This is also why it’s taking some time to finalize the details of the Builders Program to ensure that the game and the community are protected from potential abuse.
While La and the Sky Mavis believe that there is “tremendous value that will come out of [the Builder’s Program] for everyone,” he also believes that there should be a lot of careful consideration before proceeding with the project.
La’s twitter thread also detailed several key directions for the program which includes:
- Having a more open policy to amateur builders as long as projects do not generate more than $10k/month.
- There should be minimal friction for start-up projects to get going but with the idea of giving back to the community once the project becomes successful.
- Only participants that are thoroughly vetted by Sky Mavis and have had a soft launch can sell NFTs.
- The projects developed should use Axie as part of the ecosystem that should require players to have Axie and/or have a premium experience that requires Axie to access.
- Gambling will not be allowed as there are varied laws and regulations and creates a significant risk for the entire Axie Infinity community.
- They will support community games but will look to invest in professional studios as well. If there are multiple games in the same genre, they will approach it on a case-by-case basis.
As per La, it’s not an easy task to balance everything for the Builders Program as there are many considerations and changes that may still happen in the next weeks as they polish the details.
“We’ve come up with a direction that we believe is a good start, and it may evolve over time given your feedback and learnings from the program,” La said in his Tweet.
What does this mean for the Axie Community?
Even though Axie Infinity has been around for 4 years it still feels like a pretty new game—this is partially due to the fact that it just hit the mainstream late last year. However, there’s a lot of hope for what it will bring for the future of crypto and NFT gaming. This is where the Builders Program comes in.
The program will not only encourage the growth of the community and generate more interest in Axie but will also encourage the development of new ideas for brand new gaming experiences in the Axie Infinity ecosystem.
These new project ideas can also generate additional income for the developers involved in the program and the Axie team is excited to guide and mentor these developers and even provide them with the tools and resources to ensure success.
Though there are security concerns that they need to address to ensure to protect the game and its IP from potential abuse, the Axie team is looking to finalize the details of the program soon and will be posting a blog post about it once they do.
We are optimistic about the plans for the Builders Program and the Axie team seems to be taking a meticulous effort to get this off the ground to ensure success for both the Axie team, the developers, and the rest of the community.
Look forward to updates on the Axie Infinity Builders program as we’ll be reporting them as new information comes in.