Axie Infinity: Origins will debut on the Google Play Store

Sky Mavis announced that it has passed review and will be able to debut its Axie Infinity: Origins game on the Google Play Store.

That’s a big step for a Web3 game, as Axie Infinity: Origins is a free-to-play title that introduces players to opportunities to earn rewards and own their own stuff in the Axie play-to-earn universe. Sky Mavis said it believes it is the first Web3 game to pass muster in a major app store, though the Vietnam-based company had to make some major compromises to get permission to put the game on the store.

The game will make its first baby step by launching on the Google Play Store in Malaysia first. That will enable the team to test and improve the game.

The Axie Infinity title took off in 2021 and set Sky Mavis on the road of being a major player in gaming with its play-to-earn mechanics that combined cryptocurrency and gaming. The title peaked at more than 1.8 million daily players in mid-2021 before starting to slide as new players became harder to find and the cost of buying Axie characters rose.

Yet that was an impressive number considering neither Apple nor Google would allow such crypto games with crypto transactions on their app stores at the time.

“As part of this strategy to ‘dip our toes’ into markets to gather data and iterate, we will also be launching Origins in smaller countries that mirror the demographics and player archetypes of regions such as North/South America, Europe, and East Asia,” Sky Mavis said. “This will allow us to make Origins even better by the time it starts going live in other countries for maximum effect.”

The early Play Store versions of the app will have limited features. For example, players will not be able to earn tokens, in compliance with current Google Play Store policies.

“Of course, we remain committed to our vision of a player-owner digital nation, and will continue working with app platforms to unlock that in our builds. This is the first step towards opening our doors to a new generation of Lunacians,” Sky Mavis said.

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