Making real money from playing this Pokémon clone

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A couple of weeks ago, Steam, the digital video game distribution service, had a summer sale. I went on a bit of a spree, getting seven games for around S$140. The best pick of the bunch so far is Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. I finished the trilogy back when it first came out 14 years ago (I’m getting old), but I don’t hesitate to say that replaying the games is as good an investment of my time and money as anything.

But while I sit here paying money to play games like a chump, some people are making money from doing so – even 70-year-old grandparents. Axie Infinity, a Pokémon-inspired online blockchain game, is actually helping some Filipinos make ends meet. Find out how in today’s featured premium article.

Today, we look at:

• How people are making real money from battling fake creatures
• The US$6 million series A round of a healthy-snack startup
• Other newsy highlights such as Ola’s expansion into the world of used cars and another IPO victim of the Chinese government’s increased scrutiny on tech firms

PREMIUM SUMMARY

Playing for keeps

“It is an engaging game that keeps you on your toes because of how you have to strategize and plan your every move carefully to win, just like in a chess match. It’s really quite fun and can even be addictive.”

Sounds like a regular user review of a video game, right? But this “engaging game,” as a player named Jonathan Yong puts it, also pays out real money for each victory. Say hello to Sky Mavis’ Axie Infinity.

• Gotta catch (and sell) ‘em all: In Axie Infinity, players collect, do battle with, and even sell the titular axies, which are digital monsters. They are also non-fungible tokens, so none of them are the same. The most expensive axie ever sold went for US$130,000 (!!!) in November 2020.
• Where the money comes from: Besides selling axies, players can earn real cash from exchanging in-game currency that they receive from winning battles and by investing in Axie Infinity Shards, which are the governance tokens of the Axie Infinity protocol.
• An oasis in the Covid-19 desert: The game has not only given some users – whose work opportunities have been curtailed by the pandemic – a chance to make ends meet, but it has also provided many socially isolated people with a community that transcends national borders.

Read more: Explaining Axie Infinity and its mercurial rise

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT

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