Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based online video game, where players breed and battle teams of creatures called ‘Axies’ against each other to win. The rewards for winning are Smooth Love Potion or SLPs, a fungible cryptocurrency. As they play, players can cash out their in-game winnings and exchange them for their local fiat currency, earning real money for playing the game. Axie Infinity is developed by Vietnam-based company Sky Mavis and was first released in 2018. As the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns spread around the world, many industries were effectively shut down, leaving millions of people unemployed. In this global context, the popularity of Axie Infinity has soared, with over a million players registered as of August 2021. The largest number of Axie Infinity players and scholarship holders are from the Philippines.
To get started with the game, players need a team of three Axies. These Axies are not simply cute digital creatures, they are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). The current minimum price for one Axie is USD146, meaning that the upfront cost to start playing is approximately USD450, an impossible hurdle to overcome for most potential players in the Philippines.
Enter Crypto Gaming United (CGU), a Play-to-Earn guild that removes the barriers to entry to the game with its Axie Infinity Scholarships. An Axie Infinity Scholarship gives a CGU scholar in the Philippines access to the game by covering the startup cost to the game in exchange for a share of the players’ earnings. CGU was launched in September 2021 and currently has over 50,000 members on its Discord channel and 3,000 scholars from over 20 countries playing the game. CGU gives its scholars access to the game allowing them to earn an income and connects them with an international community of other earn-to-play enthusiasts.
The CGU Axie Infinity Scholarship is available to players all around the world, with active recruitment and onboarding of new players taking place in many countries including the Philippines, India, Venezuela, and Russia.
To obtain a CGU Axie Infinity Scholarship in the Philippines, prospective players start by joining the discord channel, where they can connect with the international CGU community, as well as their country-based team. Once selected, CGU scholars are supported by a team of experienced players, allowing them to learn and grow their gaming expertise, increasing their earning capacity as they go. Current CGU scholars credit their Axie Infinity Scholarship with helping them to support their families, teaching them important life skills, and building new relationships, all while making the process of playing and earning from the game easily.
In the longer term, CGU will expand beyond Axie Infinity Scholarships, screening scholars for their strengths and skills, providing ongoing training, and giving them access to other Play-to-Earn games. CGU also intends to provide scholars with educational opportunities in cryptocurrency and financial management, equipping them with the skills to grow and prosper in the global digital economy.
CGU currently has an expanding team of Axie Infinity Scholarship players in the Philippines and is looking to grow the number of scholarships offered in the country substantially over the coming weeks and months.