Axie Infinity Expands with RON Staking and 4 New Partner Studios on Ronin Blockchain
Sky Mavis unveils the Ronin blockchain’s DPoS upgrade and introduces 4 new game studios into the Ronin ecosystem.
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Editing by Nathaniel Cajuday
- Sky Mavis recently announced the Ronin blockchain’s upgrade to Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). Along with the upgrade, Ronin said that it has also opened its ecosystem to four gaming studios, which will have the opportunity to access the Axie Infinity intellectual property (IP) for their games or build entirely new games with their own distinct IP on Ronin.
- The DPoS integration marks Sky Mavis’ next step towards decentralization for Ronin. It will allow anyone with a minimum of 250k RON to become a validator and participate in block production.
- Meanwhile, the four gaming studios that have entered the Ronin network are Directive Games, which focuses on gaming experience; Tribes Studio, which focuses on creating community-led, web3-enabled gaming experiences; Bali Games, which focuses on casual mobile games; and Bowled.io, which focuses on bat and ball game Cricket.
Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity, unveiled its two recent big moves: the Ronin blockchain’s upgrade to Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) and the partnership of four game studios in the Ronin ecosystem.
“Five years ago, a ragtag band of missionaries dreamed that we could create a new type of gaming ecosystem— one with digital property rights at its core, enabled by the latest advancements in blockchain technology. Today, we take the next step in our journey together. Today, we’re one step closer to our infinite destiny,” Sky Mavis emphasized in its blog post.
RON Staking
The Ronin Network is an Ethereum-linked sidechain created to be used for Axie Infinity. It is designed to help gaming developers create games with player-owned economics and a scalable ecosystem.
“Sky Mavis aims to create an infinite ecosystem that introduces the benefits of Web3 through immersive gaming experiences. With the upgrade to DPoS, the company is opening up its infrastructure and technology to the wider Web3 world. “We believe that this is the path towards creating gaming that’s community-centric, more rewarding, and above all, more fun,” said Trung Nguyen, CEO and Co-founder of Sky Mavis.
The DPoS integration marks Sky Mavis’ next step towards decentralization for Ronin. It will allow anyone with a minimum of 250k RON to become a validator and participate in block production. RON staking opens on April 2, 2023, with rewards starting on April 12.
Unlike the native PoS consensus model, which allows anyone to become a validator, the DPoS allows Ronin’s validators to be delegated based on votes from the native token holders.
How to Stake RON Tokens
Additionally, RON holders can stake their tokens and participate in validator selection, with selected validators sharing their rewards with the delegators. RON holders can delegate their tokens to any one of the 22 validators within the layer-2 ecosystem.
One of the known Axie personalities aiming to be a community validator on the network is content creator Kookoo. He expressed this goal on March 18.
How to stake:
- Step 1: Open the wallet application or Ronin website and access the staking dashboard.
- Step 2: Choose validators.
- Step 3: Delegate RON to them
- Step 4: Confirm.
Partner Studios: Expanding the Ronin Ecosystem
Sky Mavis is also launching an ecosystem of game studios that will build and launch games on Ronin. The partner studios will have the opportunity to access the Axie Infinity intellectual property (IP) for their games or build entirely new games with their own distinct IP on Ronin.
“We have an unshakable conviction that Web3 is the next tectonic shift in gaming. If you also know this and can’t sleep at night thinking about the possibilities, you’re in the right place. Let’s build together,” Ronin Network wrote in a tweet.
The first four gaming studios that have entered the Ronin ecosystem are:
Directive Games: Building Competitive Multiplayer Games
Directive Games was established in 2014 by game developers who had previously worked for well-known companies like CCP Games, DICE, LucasArts, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Tencent.
According to the dev team, they are placing a significant emphasis on developing large, immersive, and competitive multiplayer games that prioritize player agency, thus, to achieve this goal, they developed a robust technology stack that includes a proprietary backend system for creating expansive and persistent game worlds, as well as generative AI tools and proceduralism.
The gaming studio also officially announced the closed beta launch of The Machines Arena, a fast-paced hero shooter game, on the Epic Games Store for Ronin users, adding that they are planning to roll out Web3 features in the coming months. Directive Games expressed its desire to provide the Axie community with a new and thrilling gaming experience.
Tribes Studio: Community-Led Gaming Experiences
Tribes Studio is a game studio that claims to revolutionize the game development process by creating community-led, web3-enabled gaming experiences that are rooted in creativity and innovation. It was founded by a former executive of King and Scopely, the traditional gaming studios behind popular web2 games like Candy Crush Saga, Walking Dead, and Star Trek.
For its partnership with Axie Infinity, the studio clarified that it will utilize its community engagement platform—which is currently used in their flagship game, Tribesters: Island of Solas—for other games within the Ronin ecosystem. As per the team behind the firm, integrating this platform will allow the community to participate in the game development process and be rewarded for their contributions.
Bali Games: Mobile Casual Games with Axie Inspiration
Bali Games is a game studio that focuses on casual mobile games. It was founded by the creators of the popular Korean series “Anipang,” which achieved $1.8 billion in gross revenue and over 130 million downloads. Bali Games has a track record of expanding major IPs, including Disney Pop, Snoopy Puzzle, and BT21.
For this collaboration, the studio promised to leverage its extensive experience in mobile game development to create Axie-inspired puzzle games, declaring that the integration with Axie Infinity will also help grow the Axie Infinity community in Korea by expanding the Axie IP and lore through puzzle games.
Bowled.io: Engaging the Indian Cricket Community
Bowled.io is a social gaming platform that focuses on cricket and allows users to play games, own in-game sports assets, and interact with sports influencers. According to the platform, it is accurately providing a suite of engaging game modes that enable users to cultivate their team of all-star cricket heroes and compete against players worldwide.
Through this collaboration, Axie Infinity is expected to tap into the community of India-based sports fans and onboard a different demographic within an emerging market into the Ronin ecosystem.
Other Ronin News
In April 2022, a month after the Ronin Bridge was exploited, Sky Mavis confirmed that it added five new validators for the bridge to further secure the transactions of its community members. The validators added were Delphi, Animoca Brands, Dialectic, Nansen, and Stable Node.
Months later, it also added four more validators, namely: Coco Bear, Dialectic, QU3ST, and Yield Guild Games.
This article is published on BitPinas: Axie Infinity Developer Launches RON Staking, Introduces 4 New Partner Studios on Ronin Blockchain
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