GameFi News: Axie Pivots, Pixiland Drops Web3, and More

The GameFi marketplace cooled this week aft a beardown commencement to January, arsenic Axie Infinity (AXS) logged crisp swings and different blockchain crippled abandoned Web3 altogether.

As of Jan. 16, the full GameFi marketplace capitalization fell astir 2% week-over-week (WoW) to astir $9.35 cardinal aft much than doubling implicit the past 30 days, according to information from CoinMarketCap.

Axie plans to modulation rewards to a caller app token, bAXS. Source: X/Jihoz

On Jan. 14, AXS, the autochthonal token of Axie Infinity, surged to a marketplace headdress of astir $230 million, astir 50% higher than 2 days earlier, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The rally proved unsteady. On Jan. 15, AXS retraced much than 14%, reversing overmuch of the earlier move, CoinMarketCap information shows. As of Jan. 16, AXS trades astatine a marketplace capitalization of astir $208 million.

The swings followed a Jan. 13 Discord sheet successful which Axie Infinity’s co-founders unveiled a large restructuring of the project’s tokenomics. Axie co-founder Jihoz said the crippled volition statesman transitioning AXS rewards into a caller app token, bAXS, arsenic portion of a broader overhaul planned for 2026.

“A bully time for AXS, but the existent communicative present is the structural changes to proviso that we’re making this year,” Jihoz wrote successful a Jan. 14 station connected X.

In the caller system, bAXS volition beryllium earned done gameplay and tin beryllium spent, staked, oregon sold, but the token volition initially beryllium bound to idiosyncratic accounts.

The changes people the archetypal of respective “big swings” Axie Infinity plans to marque successful 2026, co-founder Cruise said during the panel.

The WOD token mislaid astir of past week’s gains. Source: CoinMarketCap

Meanwhile, smaller-cap gaming tokens struggled to prolong momentum.

World of Dypians (WOD), 1 of the apical performers during GameFi’s aboriginal January rebound, is down astir 40% connected the week, according to CoinMarketCap.

The week prior, the marketplace headdress of WOD much than doubled, surging from astir $9 cardinal connected Jan. 8 to much than $20 cardinal connected Jan. 9, per CoinMarketCap.

In a Jan. 14 station connected X, the task said it has integrated Grok arsenic an in-game adjunct to usher players done gameplay.

“This is not a elemental chatbot layered connected apical of a game,” World of Dypians said.

“Grok becomes a real-time AI furniture wrong the world, designed to usher players done gameplay, exploration, events, mechanics, and progression without breaking immersion.”

Pixiland has indefinitely paused Web3 features. Source: X/Pixiland

On Jan. 15, Pixiland: Age of Heroes, a strategy crippled built connected the Ronin Network, announced plans to exit Web3 wholly and displacement to an exclusively Web2 model.