The GameFi market declined this week even as Axie Infinity and The Sandbox posted sharp gains, with traders shifting focus from the broader sector to project-specific catalysts.
As of Jan. 22, the total GameFi market capitalization was down approximately 3% week-over-week (WoW), according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Large-cap gaming tokens underperformed, with Render (RENDER) down nearly 9% to a market cap of about $1 billion and Immutable (IMX) shedding more than 7% to about $495 million.
The large-cap GameFi sell-off mirrors a downturn in core cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), which clocked WoW losses ranging from 6.5% to 11.5%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Meanwhile, Axie Infinity (AXS) and The Sandbox (SAND) rose nearly 120% and 30% WoW, respectively, CoinMarketCap data shows. As of Jan. 23, AXS traded at a market cap of around $460 million, while SAND’s market cap stood at roughly $420 million.
AXS Rallies Amid Ongoing Revamp
Axie Infinity has announced new in-game AXS rewards. Source: Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity’s gains followed a tokenomics overhaul announced earlier this month and a series of product rollouts beginning Jan. 21 that have expanded in-game token incentives.
Axie Infinity is a Web3-native game ecosystem where players collect, battle, and breed digital creatures called Axies, with an in-game economy built around AXS rewards.
On Jan. 21, Axie launched Origins Season 16, marking the first season in which all competitive rewards are distributed in bAXS, an in-app utility token backed 1:1 by AXS. The season features an 80,000 bAXS prize pool shared among the top 2,000 players.
“For the first time in Axie history, we are introducing bAXS rewards, starting with Origins,” Axie Infinity said in a Jan. 21 blog post.
On Jan. 22, the company launched Classic Competitive Season 13, offering more than 36,000 AXS in rewards across a series of competitions, including daily mini-tournaments and a newly introduced Classic Champions Invitational with a 5,000 AXS prize pool.
The launches followed a Jan. 14 developer update outlining plans for broader tokenomics changes in 2026, including measures aimed at reducing bot activity, managing oversupply of Axie non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and bolstering the project’s treasury.
“We believe restructuring emissions and addressing Axie oversupply are the only viable paths to meaningfully increasing the value and utility of every Axie,” Axie Infinity co-founders Shade and Cruise said during a Jan. 19 community discussion.
SAND Ecosystem Growth Drives Gains
SANDchain’s vision for Web3 creators drew 200,000 endorsements. Source: X/SANDchain