Yuga Labs lays off employees as part of massive reorganization

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), CryptoPunks and Otherside will remain the focus.

Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, said in a blog post published on October 6 that it has laid off some of its employees.

CEO Daniel Alegre wrote:

“After careful consideration, I have decided that we need to reorganize the Yuga Labs team. These changes mean that many positions across the company have been eliminated, impacting some colleagues.”

Alegre attributed the need for a strategic shift to poor launch performance in specific areas, particularly within the company’s game plan

Alegre revealed that as part of the restructuring, Yuga Labs will delegate certain activities to external third-party companies. In the meantime, Yuga Labs’ internal development team will focus on web3 work and Otherside, the company’s Metaverse platform.

Elsewhere in the letter, Alegre said the company was “fully committed to the implementation of the Otherside strategy.” He noted that Otherside will launch new gaming experiences in 2024 and will establish long-term partnerships to complement Yuga Labs’ own efforts.

BAYC, CryptoPunks efforts will remain active

Alegre also commented on the status of certain high-profile products. He said the Bored Ape Yacht Club will expand a program called “Made by Apes,” which will serve as a licensing model and community showcase for fan creations. In addition, Alegre hinted that gaming experiences related to the Bored Ape product line will be launched in 2024.

Next, Allegre noted that Yuga Labs will continue to manage CryptoPunks (the NFT series acquired by Yuga Labs in May 2022) by “improving and simplifying” the Punks application. He said a book about NFT collections is still being written.

While both efforts will remain active, Alegre suggested that Yuga Labs merge its Meebits and 10KTF teams into the Otherside team.

Yuga Labs did not describe any specific market or revenue trends that led to its layoffs. However, although activity in the NFT market generated record-breaking $55 billion in revenue in 2022, it has declined overall. Although Yuga Labs plays a major role in some of the largest NFT collections, it is unlikely to escape this trend completely.