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

Alex O'Donnell

The GameFi market cooled this week after a strong start to January, as Axie Infinity (AXS) logged sharp swings and another blockchain game abandoned Web3 altogether.

As of Jan. 16, the total GameFi market capitalization fell about 2% week-over-week (WoW) to around $9.35 billion after more than doubling over the past 30 days, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Axie Infinity Pivots, Triggering Volatility

Axie plans to transition rewards to a new app token, bAXS. Source: X/Jihoz

On Jan. 14, AXS, the native token of Axie Infinity, surged to a market cap of about $230 million, roughly 50% higher than two days earlier, according to CoinMarketCap data.

The rally proved unsteady. On Jan. 15, AXS retraced more than 14%, reversing much of the earlier move, CoinMarketCap data shows. As of Jan. 16, AXS trades at a market capitalization of about $208 million.

The swings followed a Jan. 13 Discord panel in which Axie Infinity’s co-founders unveiled a major restructuring of the project’s tokenomics. Axie co-founder Jihoz said the game will begin transitioning AXS rewards into a new app token, bAXS, as part of a broader overhaul planned for 2026.

“A good day for AXS, but the true story here is the structural changes to supply that we’re making this year,” Jihoz wrote in a Jan. 14 post on X.

In the new system, bAXS will be earned through gameplay and can be spent, staked, or sold, but the token will initially be bound to user accounts.

The changes mark the first of several “big swings” Axie Infinity plans to make in 2026, co-founder Cruise said during the panel.

World of Dypians Retraces

The WOD token lost most of last week’s gains. Source: CoinMarketCap

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

World of Dypians (WOD), one of the top performers during GameFi’s early January rebound, is down nearly 40% on the week, according to CoinMarketCap.

The week prior, the market cap of WOD more than doubled, surging from around $9 million on Jan. 8 to more than $20 million on Jan. 9, per CoinMarketCap.

In a Jan. 14 post on X, the project said it has integrated Grok as an in-game assistant to guide players through gameplay.

“This is not a simple chatbot layered on top of a game,” World of Dypians said.

“Grok becomes a real-time AI layer inside the world, designed to guide players through gameplay, exploration, events, mechanics, and progression without breaking immersion.”

Pixiland Drops Web3 Features

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

On Jan. 15, Pixiland: Age of Heroes, a strategy game built on the Ronin Network, announced plans to exit Web3 completely and shift to an exclusively Web2 model.

The project has halted crypto payments, NFT minting, and token rewards, citing market conditions and regulatory challenges.

“Due to ongoing market volatility, increasing regulatory uncertainty / compliance requirements, and limited remaining resources, sustaining the Web3 model long-term has become extremely challenging,” Pixiland said in a Jan. 15 X post.

Existing wPixi tokens are being converted into an in-game currency, and NFTs can be converted to off-chain collectibles. The project’s Web3 dashboard is scheduled to shut down on March 1.

The Ronin Network also hosts Axie Infinity, and both Ronin and Axie were developed by Sky Mavis.

As of Jan. 16, the Ronin (RON) token trades at a market cap of around $108 million, down by more than 90% from 2024 highs of more than $1.1 billion, per CoinMarketCap data.

The price of other core GameFi tokens, including Render, Immutable, Gala, The Sandbox, and Decentraland, ended the week largely unchanged.