The whole world knows that NFT is cold. How cold is it?
On OpenSea, the NFT exchange with the largest market share in the world, monthly sales of Ethereum-based and Polygon-based NFTs fell to the lowest level this year in September, reaching US$74 million and US$5 million respectively, both down from their highs in February this year. 30%.
Ethereum and Polygon are the blockchain networks with the largest and second largest NFT issuances. The NFT markets of these two major ecosystems have now reached freezing point. The one who feels the coldest is the issuer of NFT. Yuga Labs, which was exacerbated by the selling wave of boring apes some time ago, finally can’t sit still.
On October 6, Yuga Labs announced a team reorganization. The teams of its NFT projects Meebits and 10KTF will be merged into the Metaverse gaming platform Otherside. Accordingly, layoffs have also begun.
“There has been a lot of (pressure) internally.” Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs, sounded frustrated in the open letter of restructuring. He pointed out a way out, "Yuga Labs needs to actively cooperate with more external partners while refocusing. "
This company that created blue-chip NFT also acquired several leading companies in NFT projects and decided to focus on the gaming field. This year, the company used the “Boring Ape” IP image to create the game “Dookey Dash”, which once attracted an influx of traditional e-sports players.
After testing the waters with real games, Yuga Labs probably saw the opportunity of NFT to break the ice and decided to launch more games and entertainment experiences based on Otherside in 2024. Layoffs and reorganization, betting on games, Yuga Labs’ new game narrative, where can you find opportunities for its NFTs to become popular?
Layoffs and restructuring amid sell-off
As of October 7, the floor price of CryptoPunks was 43 ETH. At the end of August 2021, its floor price was still 125 ETH. In two years, the floor price dropped by more than 65%; Boring Ape BAYC was even worse. The current floor price of 26.99 ETH was higher than 125 ETH. Year-on-year decline of 82.4%.
The value of many Yuga series NFTs has shrunk by 60-90% from historical highs
Judging from the current market situation, the bubble of the NFT industry burst after a short period of prosperity. Some well-known large holders, such as singer Huang Licheng, etc., sold a large number of NFTs including Boring Monkey in a short period of time, causing drastic fluctuations in market prices.
Its own situation is not good, and the market environment shows no signs of warming. The reorganization of Yuga Labs has a certain inevitability.
In the restructuring open letter, Alegre pointed to Yuga Labs’ successful projects this year, including the high-profile Dookey Dash game, Twelve Fold, and collaborations with BAPE and Gucci. But he said some product launches have not lived up to expectations.
What will be the focus of operations after the reorganization?
Alegre pointed out three clear directions: community growth and interaction with brands; launching unique initiatives such as games, entertainment experiences, and interactive social networking around the Otherside strategy; focusing development efforts on a few core things and continuing to build complementary, long-term partnerships.
“Community growth” seems to be the top priority. This is not surprising. The reason why Yuga Labs has become the leading publisher in the NFT market is absolutely inseparable from the huge player market brought by its first trump card and star project Bored Ape Yacht Club (ie. BAYC Bored Ape) NFT series.
Not long ago, the topic of “BAYC community vitality decline” was hotly discussed on social media, and Alegre also noticed these public reactions.
In this regard, he said that Yuga Labs is well aware of the importance of the “early BAYC atmosphere” and promises to continue to maintain this energy, starting with the upcoming ApeFest in Hong Kong. In addition, the reorganized team will support the expansion of the Made by Apes IP tool and other projects, thereby empowering club members around the world and continuing to cultivate community culture and creativity.
Another NFT ace IP obtained by Yuga Labs through acquisition is CryptoPunks. Regarding this NFT series, Yuga Labs also stated that it will continue to invest resources to consolidate and highlight the legacy of this series in the field of cryptographic art. The specific way is through education (including (upcoming books), improve and simplify the app, and provide more premium experiences.
The news of reorganization may appease the anxiety of the community, but the haze of layoffs has already enveloped Yuga Labs. Although the official did not disclose the specific number, according to subsequent tweets from Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano, the number of employees in the company after the reorganization still exceeds 120. . Alegre stated in the letter that the transition plan for departing employees includes generous severance compensation, COBRA health insurance coverage and assistance in finding new job opportunities.
** Deeply tie your own NFT betting game track **
After layoffs and reorganization, and clarifying the general direction of the team’s efforts, Yuga Labs’ next most important move was towards its metaverse game platform Otherside. The teams of two internal NFT projects, Meebits and 10KTF, were merged into this game. platform.
According to the official website, Otherside is a metaverse game platform under development by Yuga Labs. The platform is built around the metal-making nature of GameFi’s “Play To Earn” and incorporates the mechanics of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) – users can think of it as a virtual role-playing game (metaRPG) platform within the metaverse space. , thousands of people can interact online at the same time. Different from traditional RPG games, the player characters in these games are played by the NFT in their hands.
Yuga Labs has already begun to bet on the gaming industry through Otherside.
As early as April this year, Alegre, a former Blizzard executive, said that NFT still has a bright future because it is the key to the world of games, events, and e-commerce. Apparently, the door lock that matches Yuga Labs’ “key” is none other than Otherside.
On March 25 this year, Yuga Labs launched the second voyage test of Otherside. The number of people participating in the test was about 7,200, which was much more than the 4,000 people on the first voyage.
On the first voyage, voyagers can participate in a variety of game activities, such as moving freely, sending emoticons, sprinting, dancing and completing mid-air flips, or displaying the NFT they hold and experiencing private live broadcasts.
Otherside is also a platform that Yuga Labs deeply integrates with its NFTs. There are a total of 200,000 NFT plots named Otherdeeds on the platform. On May 1, 2022, Otherdeeds started casting for the first time, and 100,000 plots have been bought out.
Of these 100,000 plots, 10,000 are directly allocated to BAYC holders and 20,000 MAYC holders. Similar early bird benefits also include that all BAYC, MAYC, BAKC and CryptoPunks holders will When the game is released, you will get a 3D model matching the NFT in your hand, which can be used as a character in Otherside’s game.
Yuga Labs has launched Legends of the Mara open beta
Not long ago, on September 26, Yuga Labs also released a public test of the 2D strategy game Legends of the Mara (LOTM) on Otherside.
If Otherside is a grand plan, then Yuga Labs has already tasted some sweetness in expanding the game attributes of its own NFT.
In March this year, Yuga Labs launched a game Dookey Dash for BAYC holders. This game is similar to “Temple Run”. Although it was only launched as a simple web game, the high bonuses attracted the participation of traditional e-sports players and quickly brought short-term popularity to BAYC and the related token APE.
After developing games with its own NFT IP and receiving response, Yuga Labs officially stated that the Otherside team will build new gaming experiences through third-party partnerships in 2024.
NFT must first break the ice to break the ice
In response to the current NFT industry trends, some insiders pointed out that the NFT narrative that PFP (personal avatar) represents identity is outdated, and NFT needs a new story. Then, Yuga Labs’ game track plan for Otherside can be regarded as one of the stories, and the intention of emphasizing “third-party partners” is obvious, that is, to “break the circle.”
In addition to Otherside, blue-chip NFTs owned by Yuga Labs have begun to cooperate with traditional games. Not long ago, the NFT series “Mutant Ape” (MAYC) derived from “Boring Ape” reached a cooperation with the famous game IP “Dungeons and Dragons”.
On August 17 this year, Wreck League, a fighting game jointly developed by game studio nWAY and Animoca Brands, started NFT creation. Yuga Labs appeared as the “first season partner” of the game. The game will integrate BAYC, MAYC, BAKC and Otherside Kodas are four Yuga series NFT series. Players can collect mecha part NFTs in the game, assemble them and then cast complete mecha character NFTs.
Otherside is the home base of YugaLabs game plans
It can be seen that Yuga Labs is going all out to maintain its industry influence through the narrative of combining games and NFT.
Other blue-chip NFT issuers did not sit still and began to use their NFT IP as a card to test the opportunities of “breaking the circle” to the outside world. For example, the well-known blue-chip NFT project Doodles and Crocs jointly launched a limited edition of “Crocs” shoes. ”, Pudgy Penguins launched Pudgy Toys physical toys and other products at the end of September.
It is not difficult to see from these examples that giving NFT more application scenarios has become a way for major projects to escape difficulties. Games, IP co-branding, IP derivatives, etc. are all means of “breaking the circle”, and in this change process , Yuga Labs is no longer a simple NFT issuer, their attributes have become more diverse, perhaps it is more appropriate to describe them as an NFT IP label.
And this also means that when entrepreneurs come up with the idea of NFT, it is no longer enough to design a series of cool, weird, or beautiful pictures. Entrants need the ability to turn the NFT series into a market crowd. After obtaining the IP, how to transform the IP into applications with more commercial value?
**If you hold Yuga series NFT, will you sell it? **
