TOKYO -- Sky Mavis, the Vietnam-based developer of popular cryptocurrency game Axie Infinity, delayed the rollout of a long-anticipated upgrade on Thursday as it scrambled to recoup more than $600 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from its network.
Sky Mavis had planned to release a new version of Axie Infinity, called Origin, which will give users some of the digital creatures required to play the game for free. The current version requires users to purchase them on a marketplace using cryptocurrency -- a big hurdle for casual players that the company and its venture capital backers are keen to lower.
