Sky Mavis Drops Legal Hammer: Axie Infinity Creator Accuses Seed Go of IP Theft

GameFi heavyweight Sky Mavis fires first legal shot—alleging upstart rival Seed Go ripped off Axie Infinity’s core mechanics. The Ronin blockchain architects claim ’blatant infringement’ as the P2E space gets messy.

Who copied whom? Both projects feature anime-inspired creatures battling for crypto rewards—but Sky Mavis insists their code, lore, and tokenomics were lifted wholesale. Seed Go’s token dipped 12% on the news, because nothing screams ’guilty’ like panic-selling VCs.

This could get ugly fast. With billions in NFT trades at stake, the lawsuit may hinge on whether ’play-to-earn mechanics’ count as protectable IP—or just another DeFi cash grab dressed in pixel art.

Jeffrey “Jiho” Zirlin, another Ronin and Sky Mavis cofounder, called Seed Go “Axie at home,” referencing the “food at home” memes. Such memes refer to an experience where a child asks their parents for takeout or to go to a restaurant. But the parents say there’s food at home — and that food is bland, gross, or just not as good as the preferred option. (The “at home” memes have spawned loads of spinoff references for years now, sometimes about movies or other forms of entertainment).

Seed Combinator, which appears to be run by SeedDAO, has the support of Sui developer Mysten Labs, according to a press release from the game project. Another press release states that Seed was “inspired” by Pokemon Go and Axie Infinity, and notes that the Sui Foundation invested in its project.

Reached for comment, the Sui Foundation distanced itself and Mysten Labs from the Seed project. A Sui Foundation spokesperson confirmed to me that a small investment was made in Seed, but did not specify an amount. 

They noted that Mysten Labs was not involved in Seed’s game development, but it did help the game set up Sui smart contracts to connect the Telegram game to Sui. 

The spokesperson emphasized that the Sui Foundation has very high standards for the projects it endorses, and it does not currently support Seed.  

SeedDAO did not respond to my request for comment.

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