Crypto Unicorns, the popular NFT game developed by Laguna Games, has announced a "play-to-airdrop" campaign set to begin next month. This announcement comes as the game undergoes a significant migration from the Polygon sidechain to Arbitrum’s layer-3 Xai gaming network.

Founded in 2021, Crypto Unicorns has built a diverse ecosystem encompassing land-based building, battling experiences, jousting, and party games. The project’s NFTs have seen substantial engagement, generating approximately $35 million in trading volume to date.

Migration and Gameplay Pause

As Crypto Unicorns transitions to the Xai network, the game will temporarily pause and become unplayable. This migration period is expected to last about a month, with the game resuming alongside the start of the play-to-airdrop campaign.

During the campaign, players will earn points by completing various in-game tasks, such as hatching a Shadowcorn egg, breeding unicorns, or evolving baby unicorns. These points will place players into different tiers, which will determine the token rewards distributed at the end of the campaign.

A snapshot of player activity was taken on Tuesday, and the most active players have been given a "small headstart" in the play-to-airdrop competition. Until the migration is complete in June, there will be no opportunity to earn additional "preseason points."

Laguna Games has announced that while the game contracts are frozen, players will be unable to transfer, buy, or sell any Crypto Unicorns assets. However, players can engage in the mobile game Unicorn Bingo to earn Crypto Unicorns (CU) and XAI network tokens during the downtime.

Challenges and Solutions

Laguna Games co-founder and CEO Aron Beierschmitt previously highlighted the challenges faced while operating on Polygon, such as network gas spikes that increased operational costs and created friction for players. To mitigate these issues, Laguna Games had been subsidizing network fees, costing the small indie studio between $5,000 to $10,000 a month.

The switch to Xai, a layer-3 gaming network built on top of Arbitrum (an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network), aims to resolve these issues by eliminating gas fees for players through a gas subsidy.

Future Prospects

The migration to Xai represents a strategic move to enhance the gaming experience for Crypto Unicorns players by reducing costs and improving network efficiency. As the game prepares to relaunch, the upcoming play-to-airdrop campaign is set to reward loyal players and attract new ones, further expanding the Crypto Unicorns community.