NFT Blue Chip Yuga Labs Dives Into Web3 Gaming, But Speculative Frenzy Could Leave Some Investors Hurting

What happened

Yuga Labs, creators of the successful NFT collections Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club, and the Otherside metaverse, have launched the first Web3 game called Dookey Dash.

Owners of Bored Apes and Mutant Apes were able to craft the free “Sewer Pass”, a required NFT to play the game. A total of 23,390 passes were issued to his four tier owners, with higher tiers receiving in-game bonuses and access to exclusive content. The top pass was issued to wallets holding both Bored Ape and Kennel NFTs, and the bottom pass was sent to wallets holding Mutant Ape NFTs.

Dookey Dash goes live on January 19th and is only playable for three weeks until February 8th. The game is an “endless runner” style experience reminiscent of his popular mobile game Temple Run, where gameplay requires dodging obstacles and collecting special items.

The more items the player collects and the longer they survive the trek through the sewer system, the higher the score. The goal of the game is to achieve the highest score among all players over the course of 3 weeks. High scorers will receive special prizes that have yet to be revealed.

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broader context

Yuga Labs is known for creating the world’s most valuable profile picture (PFP) NFT collection through the Bored Ape universe. In April 2021 he issued 10,000 units at 0.08 ETH per NFT (approximately $200).The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection will inspire a loyal following of community members, with subsequent drops, live events and brand collaborations. rewarded them with

Across all related NFT collections and crypto projects, the Bored Ape universe has a market capitalization of $4.3 billion, with Bored Apes ($1.1 billion), Mutant Apes ($440 million) and Kennels ($122 million). $), Otherdeeds for Otherside ($267 million), ApeCoin ($2.3 billion) and Sewer Path ($112 million).

In March 2022, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led a $450 million investment round in Yuga Labs at a $4 billion valuation to fund the development of the Bored Ape ecosystem. Yuga Labs is in the early stages of building its own Metaverse world, The Otherside, which is mostly shrouded in mystery. Yuga Labs successfully sold his 55,000 Otherside Deed NFTs representing ownership of virtual land in the future Metaverse, despite the secrecy surrounding the Metaverse plan, with primary sales last year surpassing his 318 million. over a million dollars.

Yuga Labs recently hired Spencer Tucker as its first Chief Gaming Officer, demonstrating its dedication to developing consumer-focused Web3 games. Tucker previously held senior positions at mobile, his gaming companies He Scopely and GREE.

Axie Infinity is the seminal Web3 game that started the whole Play-to-Earn incentive phenomenon in 2018. Play-to-earn is a way for early projects to bootstrap user growth by rewarding players with the protocol’s native tokens as they play games. In the case of Axie Infinity, this led to an explosion of users and price speculation in bull markets, but sharp declines in bear markets as new token supplies were issued constantly. Axie’s monthly active users fell 85% from 2.8 million in January 2021 to 430,000 over the past 30 days, while its native governance token, AXS, fell from a record high of $160 to $11 today. % decreased.

While Axie Infinity is a mass-market game that primarily appeals to players in emerging countries such as Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam, Dookey Dash was launched as a value-added game that rewards existing community members within the Bored Ape universe. I was. Additionally, in contrast to Axie, Dooky Dash has a limited runtime and no native game tokens to incentivize users.

main quote

“The future of gaming is underpinned by player ownership, social collaboration, and creative expression.” – Spencer Tucker, Chief Gaming Officer, Yuga Labs

Key stats

At the time of writing, Sewer Pass has a transaction volume of 25,200 ETH (around $40.3 million), and given that the NFT collection enforces a 5% creator royalty, Yuga Labs has so far raised $2 million in secondary Earn sales income. At the current run rate, Yuga Labs expects him to earn about $5 million in royalties in three weeks.

Perspectives and Impact

Emphasizing exclusivity over accessibility, Yuga Labs has always considered itself a luxury brand offering digital items and experiences at great prices.

Dookey Dash is not a mass market game designed to draw new participants into the Bored Ape ecosystem. Rather, it aims to provide existing community members with access to web browser-based games and a valuable and tradable game pass on the secondary market. To date, the game has over 3.6 million playthroughs of his and 19,000 unique his players.

Currently, the lowest price for a sewer pass is 2.9 ETH (approximately $4,600), meaning that players outside the Bored Ape ecosystem will have to pay that amount to play the game. The fact that Yuga has airdropped his pass which offers new his NFT based on the player’s score, allows speculators to bet on the future value of his NFT rewards and gameplay his skill. , supported a higher minimum price.

This naturally leads to questions about the value and usefulness of these passes once the game is over. According to sources familiar with Yuga Labs, Sewer Pass holders will be entitled to participate in the next iteration of The Summoning, a virtual world that remains shrouded in mystery. As February 8 approaches, it’s not unreasonable to expect sewer pass prices to plummet.

Note: There are ways for Passholders to delegate their tokens to users to try out the game without actually controlling their assets, but these agreements must be negotiated separately.

Interestingly, heading into the Sewer Pass NFT launch, Bored Ape sales remained flat, while Mutant Ape sales rose from $2 million per day a few days ago, to $2 million on Sewer Pass launch day. soared to over $6 million. Mutant Apes has a lower starting price than Bored Apes ($21,500 vs. $102,000, respectively), making it relatively accessible to new buyers who are likely to purchase Mutant Apes and receive a pass. The next day, Mutant Ape’s sales plummeted to his $1 million mark.

Decision

Projects that continue to provide value to the community are those that survive through the transitions of the NFT and crypto market cycles. Alternatively, many projects “crush” the community, abandoning or discontinuing project development, or failing to fulfill promises made to their owners. Yuga Labs appears committed to continuing to provide value to NFT holders.

NFT investors and enthusiasts should look for projects with a history of delivering on and delivering on promises. To increase accountability and avoid quarrels, owners should stand by project teams who expose themselves.

Games that can only be played by members of certain NFT communities are just one way projects can reward owners and build loyalty over time. Other methods include creating exclusive media content and experiences, such as movies, television shows, music, live events, physical merchandise, and other forms of intellectual property that resonate with audiences.

However, anyone looking to purchase a pass on the open market should be careful. Relatively illiquid tokens with uncertain value tend to have high volatility. Unless an investor is determined to play his Dookey Dash and become the game’s top scorer, he’ll have a hard time justifying paying over $4,000 for Paz. Yuga Labs has yet to reveal the rewards and utility that will be given to pass holders after the game ends on February 8th.