Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis to give away $2.4m in esports grants
Sky Mavis, the developer of NFT game Axie Infinity, has announced esports grants totalling $2.4m (~£2.05m) which will be used for tournaments and invitationals.
The grant is set to be paid out through these events via AXS coin, Axie Infinity’s currency. According to a release, the amount will be dispersed between Q4 2022 and Q2 2023.
Moreover, blockchain organisation Method MetaGuild has been named as Sky Mavis’ first grant recipient.
Method MetaGuild is a joint venture between British esports organisation Method and metaverse company Everyrealm.
Sky Mavis’ grant programme will be broken down into different categories separated by the size and style of the events. These categories are major tournaments, minor tournaments, online invitationals and leagues, and local tournaments.
Each category is defined by its total prize pool with major events ranging from $200,001 to $1m (~£171,000-£856,000), whereas local events are defined as $1,000-$9,999 (~£856-£8,560) prize pools.
It has been revealed that as a recipient of this new esports grant, Method MetaGuild will host online and LAN competitions with a total prize pool of $160,000 (~£136,000). It has not been specified how much of the prize pool is funded by the esports grant.
Andrew ‘Zyori’ Campbell, Program Lead, Esports & Content Creators at Sky Mavis, commented: “The launch of Axie Infinity: Origins is a key milestone in the Axie roadmap that will allow us to unlock the next level of Axie Esports.
“It’s been empowering to see more of our players engage with Axie Esports and more traditional gamers enter the Axie ecosystem as we continue to up the ante.”
This is not the first time there has been some type of Axie Infinity esports grants programme. In the announcement, Sky Mavis claims that Axie Infinity has enabled 94 tournaments through its three grant programmes.
