Axie Infinity founder discusses the barrier to entry for crypto: Playing blockchain games is too difficult for newcomers, NFT replicas require further discussion.

The cryptocurrency event TOKEN 2049 was held in London, UK this year. During the conference on the 7th, Aleksander Leonard Larsen, co-founder of Axie Infinity, shared some thoughts on the current state of the GameFi and NFT industries. While Axie Infinity has a large number of players, there are still issues that need to be addressed.

Issues Encountered by Axie Infinity

Larsen mentioned in a discussion about the metaverse:

Axie Infinity has about 2 million active players per day, with 50% of them having never used any crypto applications before.

The number of active users may seem impressive, but in reality, Axie Infinity is facing growth issues. Larsen compared the process of interested players joining the game to swimming to a small island.

"Starting to play Axie now is really hard, a lot of people are drowning. Basically, they can't get into the game." Larsen said.

For new players unfamiliar with the crypto industry who want to enter this game, besides learning how to buy cryptocurrencies and use crypto wallets, the initial cost of buying Axies and language barriers are also major challenges. Despite the current unfriendly situation for newcomers, he remains optimistic:

Even with such a high barrier to entry for this game, we still have 2 million active users. Imagine if the barrier to entry for this game was low.

It must be acknowledged that Axie Infinity is indeed a successful game, not only leading the way in blockchain gaming but also attracting many people unfamiliar with the crypto world, giving more people the opportunity to engage with this industry.

Intellectual Property Issues of NFTs

In addition to the issues with Axie Infinity, Larsen also discussed the intellectual property issues of NFTs at the conference, using well-known NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks as examples:

What does owning an NFT really mean? Does it mean you have intellectual property rights to these items, allowing you to create something? Perhaps not, but many people actually think so.

Furthermore, many well-known NFT projects have numerous derivatives on their native blockchains and other chains, raising questions about whether these actions infringe on the rights of the original owners, which still require extensive discussion.