Aavegotchi Shuts Down Geist, Leaves Polygon for Base

Aavegotchi Moves to Base After Community Vote

Aavegotchi, a long-time player in the crypto gaming space, is making a big move. After a successful vote from its DAO, the game will leave Polygon and fully migrate to Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 network. The proposal was written by Pixelcraft Studios, the team behind Aavegotchi. They called for a full migration without looking back.

Aavegotchi started back in 2020. It’s a virtual pet game that lets players earn while playing. Its token, GHST, launched the same year. The character NFTs came out in early 2021. It’s one of the longest-running games in crypto. But space has changed a lot since those early days.

Around 2021 and 2022, play-to-earn games saw a boom and a bust. Axie Infinity was at the center of that rise and fall. After that, some interest in crypto gaming returned in 2023. But token prices have taken a hit again as the market shifts.

Source: X

Last year, Aavegotchi tried something new. They launched their own gaming network called Geist. It was a layer-3 chain powered by tech from both Arbitrum and Base. The network had a closed model. Players had to pay fees but could earn rewards through gameplay.

Now Geist will shut down. Geist will likewise be terminated as a result of the vote to move to Base. Aavegotchi founder, CoderDan, explained the reasons. He said Polygon wasn’t working well for gaming anymore. DeFi activity on the chain was also slowing down.

Running their own chain sounded good at first. But CoderDan said the cost and effort didn’t make sense anymore. He mentioned problems like onboarding issues, developer tools, and the extra expense of running the rollup. These were downsides that outweighed the benefits of staying isolated.

The Base network offered better support. It also provided a larger and more active ecosystem. That made the migration a better option for Aavegotchi at this time.

Migration Timeline and Asset Changes

The switch to Base should take around 4 to 6 weeks. This process will move all in-game assets and NFTs. The original Polygon NFTs will be frozen. New versions will be re-minted on Base. Some work had already started during the Geist launch, which helps speed things up.

This migration will also include all character NFTs and other game-related assets. The team wants to make sure the process is smooth for the community. Players won’t lose their assets. They’ll just access them from a new network.

Source: X

Right now, the GHST token is down. It dropped 4% in a single day and 28% over the week. It’s sitting at around $0.438 according to CoinGecko. The market has been unstable recently, especially for gaming tokens. Aavegotchi is not the only project feeling the pressure.

Aavegotchi is not the only company closing down additional tiers or abandoning its previous network. Other gaming projects are also struggling. The team behind Hytopia is closing their Hychain network. Treasure announced they’ll retire their Treasure Chain. They had to cut their team and are dealing with budget problems.

Xterio Chain is also shutting down. Their assets are moving to the BNB Chain. Even though many gaming networks launched in 2024, a few are already done. The trend of new chains seems to be slowing down, but it hasn’t stopped completely.

On the same day as Aavegotchi’s vote, a new project appeared. iCandy Interactive and Matter Labs launched ZKcandy. It’s a new Ethereum-based scaling network. This one focuses on mobile gaming. It shows that while some networks close, new ones still pop up.

Final Thoughts

Aavegotchi’s decision to move to Base marks a big shift. The team is choosing stability and community over isolation. Ending Geist was a tough call, but it could be the right one. As the crypto gaming space keeps evolving, more projects might follow a similar path. The goal now is to survive and grow in a more mature, more realistic market.