Axie Infinity’s Play-to-Earn model swept emerging markets, attracting droves of active users. To maintain existing assets or attract new funds, the model requires a well-designed game economy and sound token liquidity in secondary markets. However, failing to meet such requirements, most of copycat projects have diminished after an initial boom.
CU plans to build a sustainable economic system by optimizing the in-game economics, thereby balancing the relationship between Play and Earn. This approach not only provides players with economic benefits but also creates more medium-long-term values, such as the joy of gaming. The token design of the CU economy adopts a dual-token system that’s similar to that of Axie Infinity: Rainbow Token (RBW), which resembles AXS, serves as its governance token, while Unicorn Milk (UNIM), which is like SLP, functions as its consumption token and comes with an unlimited supply.
Before its first game went live, to create a sound economic system over time, CU rewarded players who are willing to grow with the game through events such as free UNIM for staking Unicorn NFTs, free in-game items for staking RBW for 12 months, and free in-game items for taking a snapshot of UNIM balance. After the game is officially launched, farming has become the core of the entire economic system, which simulates real-world economic development — players holding different classes of Unicorns specialize in different production tasks, which enabled a suitable division of labor.
Roadmap
On May 2, 2022, the farming simulation game went live, bringing harvesting, crafting, gathering, Unicorn breeding, Unicorn evolution, and the introduction of the Rainbow Token marketplace. This phase will focus on Unicorn NFT growth via breeding and recruiting new players.
In Q2 2022, CU will be introducing Jousting Neighborhoods. The game will be launching nine Jousting Arenas over time to match each Unicorn class.
Racing will be released in Q3 2022. With Racing, players will enter their Unicorns in tournaments across a wide variety of tracks each with unique properties including weather.
In Q4 2022, CU will launch a 5v5 Team RPG with PvE and PvP components.
Team and institutional investors
According to its official website, Laguna Games, the team behind CU, is a world-class game development studio, with members from top companies and a strong track record in game development. As for institutional investors, in the second half of 2021, CU completed a $5 million seed round funding led by Bitkraft Ventures and Delphi Digital, with involvement from Transcend Fund, Headline Ventures, and Polygon Studios.
In particular, Bitkraft Ventures has launched a $75 million investment fund for blockchain games and led a $60 million Series B investment in Immutable X. Delphi Digital, which is a well-known blockchain research and investment institution, excels at designing economic models and has helped Axie optimize its economic model.
In March 2022, CU concluded a $26 million token sale led by TCG and Backed VC. TCG is a unicorn company that has invested in multiple traditional sectors and crypto projects, including OpenSea and Dapper Labs.
One of the most popular games on Polygon
CU’s first game has already been launched on May 2, 2022. Though it took nearly half a year from the release of Unicorn NFTs to the game’s launch, CU still received tons of market attention thanks to its world-class team, as well as a strong lineup of distinguished investors. As of May 6, 2022, CU has attracted over 42,000 Twitter followers and more than 37,000 community members on Discord.
With delicate game designs and cute styles, CU has earned extensive user recognition and may soon become one of the most popular games on Polygon.
*The above cannot be relied on as any investment advice.