With blockchain gaming on the rebound, how are former giants Axie and STEPN repositioning themselves?
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With blockchain gaming on the rebound, how are former giants Axie and STEPN repositioning themselves?
As a new wave of blockchain games, including Big Time and Fusionist, gains momentum, the blockchain gaming market landscape is being reshaped.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: flowie, ChainCatcher
As the blockchain gaming market recovers, two former titans—Axie and STEPN—have recently been making notable moves.
Axie has unveiled a three-pronged strategy: advancing its game-focused sidechain Ronin Network, upgrading its classic game Axie Classic, and attempting to open new Web2 growth channels through IP merchandising. Meanwhile, STEPN is focusing on launching its second blockchain game, Gas Hero, which uses GMT as its in-game token. During this broad market upswing, both AXS and GMT have seen monthly gains of around 20%.
Axie Unveils Three Strategic Initiatives, Ronin Sidechain Shows Strong Growth
Since the blockchain gaming market began recovering in October, Axie has actively seized the momentum with efforts centered on three key areas.
First, Sky Mavis, the development team behind Axie, has achieved significant success with its gaming sidechain, Ronin Network. According to CMC data, the RON token is currently trading at $1.56, up nearly 100% over the past month and over 30% in the last week.
Beyond token appreciation, Ronin’s on-chain metrics are also rising. On December 9, Jef Zirlin, co-founder of Ronin and Axie Infinity, announced on X that the Ronin network now has 572,000 monthly active addresses and 144,000 daily active addresses.
Ronin was originally launched by Axie Infinity in February 2021 as an Ethereum sidechain due to Ethereum’s performance limitations and high gas fees, which made it unsuitable for supporting the explosive popularity of Axie Infinity. By May 2021, Axie had migrated entirely onto Ronin. As the largest application on Ronin, Axie Infinity and the chain have long shared a symbiotic relationship—prospering together or suffering together. However, following Axie’s collapse into a death spiral at the end of 2021, Ronin’s on-chain activity declined. Then, the massive March 2022 hack resulting in losses exceeding $600 million severely damaged trust in both Ronin and Axie, causing sharp drops in TVL and token value.
Despite these setbacks, Ronin did not give up. This recent surge in growth amid the broader recovery of the blockchain gaming sector can be attributed to continuous improvements in network infrastructure and ecosystem expansion.
On one hand, Ronin has been consistently upgrading its network performance. In October, Ronin rolled out the Lucas (v2.6.2) upgrade and Shillin hard fork on its mainnet. The Lucas update introduced Optimistic Fast Finality (REP-0003) and multiple other protocol enhancements under REP-0002. Specifically, REP-0003’s new fast finality mechanism significantly improved transaction confirmation speeds on Ronin.
On the other hand, Ronin has actively partnered with well-known game studios, attracting many popular games to migrate into its ecosystem. At the end of October, the P2E game Pixels moved from Polygon to the Ronin network.
This migration brought a large influx of new users. According to Footprint Analytics, Ronin surpassed 70,000 active addresses on November 7, a 238% increase compared to a week earlier; on-chain transactions reached 196,000, marking the highest level since late March. (Recently, Ronin has shown explosive growth, with early November active user addresses increasing sixfold compared to the previous month.)
According to Ronin Daily, there are now at least 10 games integrated into the Ronin network, whereas just a year ago, Axie was the only blockchain game on the chain.
In addition, Ronin has formed partnerships with several prominent game studios. For example, in early November, Sky Mavis announced a collaboration with South Korean game developer ACT Games, which plans to migrate all its games to the Ronin network. Its collectible card game (TCG) Zoids Wild Arena has already moved from Polygon to Ronin. Shortly after, in early December, Sky Mavis partnered with Singapore-based Foonie Magus to bring their new game "Apeiron" to the Ronin blockchain. A demo version of Apeiron is available for download on the Epic Games Store. Furthermore, Sky Mavis is collaborating with game studios such as Directive Games, Bali Games, Tribes Studio, and Bowled.io, all of which will develop games using the Ronin network.
With an increasing number of games joining Ronin—and many migrating from Polygon—there has been community speculation, based on SAND token transfer records on the Ronin testnet, that The Sandbox may also plan to migrate to the Ronin chain.
Beyond expanding its gaming offerings, Ronin is also growing in domains like domain services and wallets. In mid-November, the Ronin Name Service (RNS) launched its public sale. On December 1, Ronin Wallet integrated with Binance Pay, allowing users to exchange BTC, ETH, and other assets held on Binance into AXS, SLP, and USDC on the Ronin chain. On December 6, DeFi protocol Impossible Finance announced it would deploy its Launchpad on Ronin, enabling developers and game studios on Ronin to launch their own ERC-20 tokens. Projects listed on the Launchpad may require staking RON, AXS, and IDIA tokens for allocation.
In addition to strengthening Ronin Network, Axie Infinity has recently followed in the footsteps of blue-chip NFT projects like Pudgy Penguins and Doodles by selling IP merchandise. At the end of November, Axie launched its online Merch Store featuring official products such as Squishmallow-style plush toys, $300 statues, branded hoodies, T-shirts, and baseball caps. Beyond official merchandise, Sky Mavis is also exploring a UGC (user-generated content) model, encouraging owners of specific Axie NFTs to create and sell their own products. Axie holders can now use their NFT characters as mascots to launch various ventures, including Axie-themed cafes, comics, restaurants, or toy lines.
To reach more Web2 users, Axie Infinity also announced a user rewards program in partnership with Grab, a ride-hailing giant in the Philippines. Users can access the Merch Store within the Grab app to purchase merchandise. According to Sky Mavis, 20% of the net profits from merchandise sales will go to the Axie treasury.
However, according to Axie market data, fewer than 5,000 out of 11.9 million Axie Monster NFTs have had commercial restrictions lifted—just 0.04% of all Axie Infinity NFTs. Since launching the online store, neither discussion热度 nor community growth has shown significant improvement.
In addition to pushing forward Ronin and IP merchandising, Axie has also tapped into nostalgia by relaunching its classic series, Axie Classic, with upgrades. The updated Axie Classic introduces a new game mode called "Cursed Arena," incentivizing players with rewards.
According to Axie, weekly active users exceeded 100 million just four days after the relaunch of its flagship Axie Classic game. AXS subsequently rose 10%.
Currently, Axie’s most impactful initiatives are clearly centered on the Ronin sidechain. With the potential arrival of a “blockchain gaming summer” and more high-profile games joining Ronin, the network could see further growth. Recently, OKX listed perpetual contracts for RON, and many in the crypto community are hopeful about RON being listed on additional exchanges like Binance.
STEPN Focuses on New Game Gas Hero—Will It Effectively Empower GMT?
Compared to Axie’s multi-pronged approach, STEPN appears to be concentrating its efforts primarily on its second self-developed game, Gas Hero.
In July, Find Satoshi Lab, the development team behind STEPN, first announced plans to launch the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game *Gas Hero*. Deployed on Polygon, the game will not introduce a new in-game token but will instead use STEPN’s existing GMT token. Moreover, STEPN’s generous support for Gas Hero underscores its strategic importance. When selecting artists for character designs, Find Satoshi Lab rewarded creators with approximately 2 million GMT tokens and committed to paying a 2% royalty fee.
The game's design and rapid development pace reflect ambitious goals. Initially designed to accommodate around 130,000 players, the game’s technical framework is scalable to over 6 million. Less than six months after the initial announcement, Gas Hero officially launched closed community testing on November 27. This round opened testing access to 3,000 community members, including holders of Gas Hero NFT badges, Find Satoshi Lab ambassadors, and partners. If the closed beta test succeeds, the full release is expected in December.
As a new title from the once-iconic STEPN, Gas Hero naturally draws considerable attention. Its Twitter following has already surpassed 50,000. What sets Gas Hero apart? Johnny (@johnnyL37020770), project lead for Gas Hero, revealed during a July AMA that the game aims to address three core challenges in Web3 game design: establishing native Web3 social mechanics, creating comfortable systems for asset generation and recycling, and mitigating economic cycle volatility.
Specifically, Gas Hero features a shared-world architecture integrating all players into a unified social system. Each settlement consists of nine players, each guild contains nine settlements, and each district includes nine guilds. With aspirations to eventually host millions of users, the game’s hierarchical design—from bases to cities, districts, guilds, and settlements—was built with massive scale in mind.
The game also implements a tree-like world structure where every unit has a designated manager. Starting from the base and extending upward, the system considers power dynamics, benefits and responsibilities of authority, and how governance intersects with reputation and incentives. Governance-related structures such as administrative departments, city halls, and even a United Nations appear on maps above the guild level. Players must strive to climb the ranks through various means.
Additionally, the game’s core design revolves around supply and demand for resources. “Gas Hero features a wide variety of resources, each with specific consumption needs. Understanding individual item cycles and fluctuations will be a crucial part of the in-game economy.”
Based on feedback from closed testers, Gas Hero offers richer storytelling and play-to-earn mechanics compared to STEPN. Set in a post-nuclear war future, the game follows survivors rebuilding civilization from underground. Players take on the role of survivors who join cities, guilds, and tribes to form connections with others, earning rewards through solo adventures and group battles such as tribe wars and guild conflicts. Currently, many in-game items are seeing strong price performance on the Mooar marketplace.
Snapper Research notes that Gas Hero’s gameplay closely resembles Cygames’ popular mobile title *Princess Connect! Re:Dive*. Known for generous player rewards, whether Gas Hero will inherit Cygames’ successful formula remains to be seen.
While the game mode is compelling, users are likely more interested in how effectively Gas Hero can boost demand for GMT.
After its collapse into a death spiral, STEPN attempted multiple strategies to revive the GMT ecosystem, including launching the decentralized exchange Dooar and the NFT marketplace MOOAR. However, amid a prolonged bear market, these initiatives failed to deliver noticeable results. Now, with market conditions improving, Dooar’s TVL sits around $7.5 million but has seen little recent activity. MOOAR, launched at the end of last year, remained relatively inactive until recently, when MOOAR and STEPN jointly launched the Genesis Sneakers collection, which has since surpassed $75 million in total trading volume.
Similar to Axie, STEPN has also tried integrating with Web2 platforms like Apple Pay and Apple Music to attract new users, though results so far have been limited.
Gas Hero’s launch coincides with a broader recovery in the crypto and blockchain gaming markets. Within the game, GMT is heavily used—for character upgrades and throughout the play-to-earn system—making it an initial positive catalyst for GMT. Over the past two months, GMT’s price has risen nearly 50%.
However, the broader blockchain gaming space still lacks proven, breakthrough economic models capable of ensuring long-term sustainability. Whether Gas Hero can replicate STEPN’s past success in attracting massive user adoption and driving sustained demand for GMT remains to be seen.
Conclusion
For Axie and STEPN—two once-dominant blockchain games—their vast user bases accumulated during the previous market cycle remain their greatest advantage. During the prolonged bear market, both attempted various survival strategies to sustain their ecosystems, but with limited success. With new blockchain games like Big Time and Fusionist gaining traction, the competitive landscape is shifting. To maintain their industry standing, Axie and STEPN need more immediate and impactful measures.
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