Axie Infinity Was Losing Gamers Even Before Record Crypto Hack

The popular play-to-earn Axie Infinity game had been losing users even before the record cryptocurrency hack disclosed last week restricted the ability of players to move digital money out of the virtual world.

The number of daily active users, or DAUs, has fallen 45% to 1.48 million from a peak in November, according to data compiled by Axie Infinity owner Sky Mavis. The latest tally is for the week ended March 28, or a day before the roughly $600 million hack was discovered. Current figures weren’t immediately available.

The decrease has been particularly noteworthy since December, when updates to the ...