Yuga Labs, which is known for creating the popular NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), has announced the completion of its restructuring.
The news was revealed by its CEO, Daniel Alegre, in a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter). He said: “As difficult as it has been, that restructuring is complete and we now begin the task of refining the focus with our new team configurations.”
The refocus would now be on three core priorities: supporting its existing communities; focusing on Otherside execution; and leveraging partnerships to ensure a seamless execution of its big bets. The CEO elaborated on all of the areas that the team has been working on since he took over the position on 19 December 2022.
Reiterating how BAYC is going strong globally, Alegre talked about how it will be hosting the ApeFest in Hong Kong this year. The event will highlight a large number of the MBA businesses, encouraging holders to successfully leverage the IP licenses through which the community can build unique businesses around the Ape IP.
The Otherside, which is the <etaverse world being developed by Yuga Labs, is another key focus for the company. The project which was announced mid-2022, had an eight-month long lag between its First and Second Trips. While there were some good engagement moments in the Second Trip, the CEO is of the opinion that it could have done better.
The team will now be accelerating Otherside’s development and building out “unique and differentiated digital experiences that are supported with strong and scalable tech”. Alegre added: “Building an immersive metaverse platform is hard – both technically and creatively. You have undoubtedly noticed a constant drumbeat of announcements recently – from the partnerships with Hadean and Big Rhino, to the acquisition of Roar Studios – which are all aligned towards accelerating the evolution of Otherside, so it can be the digital connection and experience platform for our Yuga family of communities and beyond.”
Finally, when it comes to partnerships, Yuga Labs expressed a selective method in its engagements. Despite having a “long list of partners who want to engage with BAYC”, the team will only focus “unique and well executed partnerships” for the community. Such were its multi-year engagement with Gucci and the recently announced BAPE collaboration, noted the CEO. He also added that there are a few more collaborations in the pipeline that will be announced soon.
The other area that Alegre touched upon was the strained relationship between CryptoPunks and Yuga Labs when he joined Yuga about six months ago. The former is an NFT collection that Yuga Labs acquired last year.
Stating how the team has “tripled down” on efforts for community support, the CEO said: “The relationship between Punks and Yuga when I joined was, I have to say, strained. What we continually heard was that Yuga didn’t care – while at the same time there was a strong desire to be left alone. As a result, we expanded our engagement with top-tier museums to elevate the already strong stature of CryptoPunks, to broaden the art collector appeal for the brand. We doubled-down… tripled-down even… on community support.”
When it comes to gaming, Alegre didn’t want Yuga Labs to be a gaming company per se. Nevertheless, he wants to enable gaming and other digital experiences that the current and potential holders will find rewarding and fun, while exposing broader audiences to Yuga’s brands. This was the impetus behind Yuga for launching its gaming channel. The CEO mentioned how crucial the ongoing feedback is in the development of new games and gamified experiences.
