Sky Mavis co-founder breaks down Ronin’s surge in active users

Sky Mavis co-founder Jeffrey Zirlin believes that Ronin has a “dedicated and resilient community” that has been built since the launch of Axie Infinity.

As the gaming-focused network Ronin surpassed popular chains in terms of daily active users, the team behind the network gave Cointelegraph a breakdown of what caused the surge, detailing how Web3 gaming continues to thrive within its blockchain. 

On July 29, the Ronin network recorded two million daily active users (DAU). This catapulted Ronin into the top metric for the day, surpassing other active networks like Tron and Solana, which had 1.8 million and 1.2 million, respectively.

In a statement sent to Cointelegraph, Jeffrey Zirlin, the co-founder of Sky Mavis, the team behind Ronin, explained the sources of the surge in activity and shared how the network achieved its recent DAU milestone.

Gaming blockchain with an army

Zirlin stressed that in Web3, where code is open-source, distribution is king. The Sky Mavis co-founder believes Ronin is the only gaming blockchain with an army. According to Zirlin, this is a “hardcore community” that was forged in the last six years, along with the beginning of its popular play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity (AXS).

He explained that the recent surge in DAU was due to several factors. These include a surge in activities in Ronin-based games like the player-versus-player (PVP) game Wildforest and the open-world survival crafting game Lumiterra.

Besides these, Zirlin also noted that the farming simulator game Pixels also contributed to the surge in users because of its latest Chapter 2 update. Zirlin claimed that Pixels went from 4,000 DAU to 800,000 DAU after migrating into Ronin from Polygon in October 2023.

Lastly, Zirlin mentioned that Axie Infinity is experiencing a comeback in terms of interest. The executive said active addresses in the game went from 12,000 in April to 60,000 in July.

Related: Blockchain gaming ‘disappointing’ despite high funding — Pixelverse co-founder

Focusing on onboarding users

Zirlin explained that while other blockchains are focused on “esoteric aspects” of blockchain, Ronin focuses on getting users and launching products. The executive said their strategy has been to attract gamers and turn them into Web3 users and advocates. Zirlin said:

“This has created a gaming-centric ecosystem where 50% of all Ronin users are totally new to Web3 technology while 80% were onboarded by a friend or family member.”

Zirlin said that their team will double down on the momentum until they become the undisputed champions of onboarding everyday people.