What is the potential of Ronin after Axie Infinity?

Author: stella@footprint.network

Source: Ronin Dashboard

Pixels, a popular Web3 game, migrated from Polygon to Ronin, a blockchain designed for gaming, in late October 2023. The move to Ronin for Pixels, which previously served as the Web3 game with the most active users (wallets) on Polygon, is a strong boost to the latter’s recovery after the hack in March 2022.

Since the migration, Ronin’s on-chain activity has seen a significant increase in November. While Ronin previously relied heavily on the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, its recent resurgence seems to be different. We’ll take a look at Ronin’s recent data performance to explore its current developments.

About Ronin

ETH Workshop’s architecture, while revolutionary, is not optimized for high-speed and low-cost gaming transactions. In 2021, this limitation became a bottleneck for Axie Infinity’s growth and player retention. To address these challenges, Sky Mavis, the Vietnamese studio that launched Axie Infinity, took a decisive step and launched Ronin in February 2021.

Ronin is a ETH sidechain that has been carefully designed to specifically meet the needs of the gaming industry. Its goal is to provide a powerful, fast, and cost-effective platform to drive the development of gaming applications. This strategic move aims to remove the barriers that once affected Axie Infinity’s gaming experience and the flow of transactions.

Sky Mavis has become a significant force in the Web3 gaming space and is one of the few teams that has truly achieved mass adoption of Web3 gaming. According to Footprint Analytics as of November 2023, Axie Infinity has amassed a staggering 9.88 million users, of which 9.22 million are attributed to Ronin, or 93.3%. The success of this flagship game has given Sky Mavis deep insights and valuable experience in the field of Web3 game development and operations.

Nearly three years after its launch, Ronin has carved out a niche in the Web3 gaming space. However, it remains to be seen whether it has become the blockchain of choice for Web3 gaming.

Ronin Advantage

Ronin has demonstrated its ability to scale individual games, such as supporting Axie Infinity for millions of users. Through Axie Infinity, Sky Mavis has gained valuable experience in product development, community engagement, and market expansion. This experience will be very helpful for partners looking to launch their projects on the Ronin network.

Ronin can support near-instantaneous transactions with extremely low fees, and can efficiently and seamlessly support a large number of in-game transactions.

In March 2022, Ronin suffered a major security breach, with hackers stealing 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC. Since then, Sky Mavis has strengthened its security measures and adopted a zero-trust framework. Originally Ronin used a proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus mechanism, which relied on a select group of trusted validators to verify transactions, which was relatively efficient but less decentralized. To enhance decentralization, Ronin turned to a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) system, which allows token holders to delegate the election of validators, allowing for a fairer decentralization of network control.

Ronin’s Ecology

The gaming industry occupies the most important position in the Ronin ecosystem. Currently, there are eight running games on Ronin, which are Axie Infinity, The Machines Arena, Bowled, Battle Bears Heroes, Wild Forest, Apeiron, and the recently added Pixels and Zoids Wild Arena. In addition, two games, Axie Champions and Tribesters, will soon be available on Ronin.

As of November, the two games, Axie Infinity and Pixels, alone accounted for more than half of Ronin’s daily trading volume and nearly 90% of daily active users (DAU). This concentration of user engagement on a handful of games also highlights the potential vulnerability in the Ronin ecosystem.

Ronin’s share of trading volume in public blockchain games is currently 21.2%. This suggests that despite Ronin’s focus on gaming, there is still room for improvement in its market presence. In order to gain a competitive advantage in the public chain space, Ronin needs to adopt a strategy of multi-domain development and further development of its game ecosystem.

Source: Monthly Volume Distribution

In light of this, Sky Mavis is actively pursuing strategies to expand the appeal of Ronin and further develop its gaming ecosystem. On November 2, Sky Mavis announced a strategic partnership with South Korean game studio ACT Games, a significant step in that direction. This partnership will bring all of ACT’s games to the Ronin system, starting with the blockchain card game Zoids Wild Arena. The move is expected to accelerate the growth of the number of Ronin games and increase developer and user interest in the platform.

In addition to games, Ronin currently has 23 decentralized applications (dApps) running on the platform. These include Katana (Ronon’s native DEX), Ronin Wallet, and Mavis Market (NFT trading marketplace). As of November 30, Katana’s TVL had reached $92.8 million, but other dApps still have a lot of room for improvement in user acquisition and engagement.

The Ronin Domain Name Service (RNS) launched its public sale on November 15, 2023, changing the way users interact with the Ronin chain. RNS replaces complex wallet addresses with intuitive, easy-to-read names, making transactions easier and more accurate. In addition, RNS will be integrated into the entire Sky Mavis ecosystem, including App.Axie, Mavis Market, and future platforms, optimizing the user experience across the network.

Source: Ronin Name Service (RNS)

Ronin’s Stats

Let’s explore the latest developments in the Ronin ecosystem through data.

Daily Active Users (DAU)

From July to October 2023, Ronin’s number of daily active users (DAU, counting unique wallets) remained stable, averaging around 17,400. However, with the migration of Pixels from Polygon to Ronin, Ronin’s DAU grew significantly in November 2023. The number surged from 17,400 to 88,400 and peaked at 152,800 on Nov. 22. Notably, Ronon’s DAU crossed the 100,000 threshold on November 16 and has continued to rise since then.

Source: Ronin Chain Daily Users

• Number of transactions per day

From July to October 2023, Ronin’s daily trading volume remained at a relatively stable level, averaging around 95,200 transactions per day. Starting in mid-October, there was a noticeable increase in trading activity at Ronon. By Nov. 30, the daily volume had surged to about 232,600.

As the number of transactions increases, the average transaction fee on Ronin has been decreasing. From July to October 2023, the average transaction fee is 0.0022 RON. In November, the average transaction fee fell to 0.0019 RON, a decrease of 11.7%.

Source: Ronin Chain Daily Transactions & Avg. Transaction Fee

Total Value Locked (TVL)

Since the beginning of this year, bear market sentiment has prevailed in the crypto market. Ronon’s TVL has been on a downward trend since January. However, since mid-October, Ronin’s TVL has grown significantly, from $49 million to $92.8 million, an increase of 86.3%, as of November 30, following favorable trends across the cryptocurrency market and increased user activity in the gaming sector.

Source: Ronin DeFi Data

However, Ronin’s native DEX, Katana, accounts for almost all of the chain’s TVL. While the gaming space has been thriving, Ronin still has room for improvement and growth in other areas of the ecosystem.

Game Stats

Daily Active Users (DAU)

Data from Footprint Analytics shows that since July 2023, more than 80% of DAUs on Ronin have come from the gaming space.

Source: Daily Active Users - Ronin Chain & Game

Ronin’s DAUs in the gaming space are in line with its general trend. With the addition of Pixels in November, there has been a significant increase in DAUs. From July to October, DAUs averaged 14,300, but by November, that number jumped to 79,800, an increase of 458.0%.

Source: Ronin Chain Key Stats

• Number of transactions per day

From August to November, the gaming segment accounted for more than 80% of Ronin’s total transactions, up from 74.7% in July.

Source: Daily Transactions - Ronin Chain & Game

The daily trading trend in the Ronin gaming space mirrors the trend of its overall daily trading volume. Since mid-October, the number of daily trades has been on an upward trend. The number of daily transactions increased from 40,100 to more than 100,000, peaking at 226,000 on November 22.

Source: Ronin Chain Key Stats

KEY GAME

• Axie Infinity

From July to October 2023, Ronin’s flagship game, Axie Infinity, has consistently contributed more than 80% of the platform’s DAU. However, with the addition of Pixels to Ronin, the percentage of Axie Infinity users fell to an all-time low of 9.12% on November 18. Despite the decline, Axie Infinity’s DAU remains stable at around 15,000.

Source: Daily Active Users - Ronin Chain & Axie Infinity

• Pixels

Pixels landed on Ronin and quickly established itself as another flagship game, earning over 70% DAU. Starting on November 6th, Pixels’ DAU began to grow steadily. The gaming DAU peaked on November 19, accounting for 83.6% of Ronin’s total DAU at 112,000.

Source: Daily Active Users - Ronin Chain & Pixels

The gaming space is at the heart of the Ronin ecosystem, with Axie Infinity as the cornerstone, and the addition of Pixels enriches the chain’s diversity and enhances its appeal. The rapid expansion of Pixels has shown developers the strength of Ronin as the best choice for Web3 games.

Source: GameFi Project Summary - Pixels on Ronin

Overall, Ronon’s latest data shows a steady growth trend, indicating that it is poised to become the blockchain platform of choice for game developers and gamers. With a commitment to scalability in the gaming space and optimization of Web3 applications, Ronin is moving towards creating an ecosystem with the best gaming experience and a new milestone beyond Axie Infinity’s success.