Yuga Labs, the team behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection, has made the decision to restructure the company in order to prioritize its core crypto business, specifically the development of the Otherside metaverse project. Greg Solano, co-founder of Yuga Labs, announced this restructuring in a post on X. Solano acknowledged that Yuga Labs had “lost its way” and needed to become a smaller, more agile team with a focus on crypto-native initiatives.
The restructuring process has led to a reduction in Yuga Labs’ workforce, although the exact number of employees affected has not been disclosed. Solano emphasized that these changes were necessary for the company to evolve and refocus its efforts. He compared Yuga Labs’ early success with the Bored Ape Yacht Club to “playing the game on easy mode,” but now they are in “hard mode” and starting from scratch with the support of the community.
In addition, Yuga Labs has announced the spin-off of other projects, such as HV-MTL and Legends of the Mara (LoTM), to concentrate its gaming endeavors on the 3D Otherside metaverse. Recently, Yuga Labs sold the HV-MTL and LoTM brands to gamebuilder Faraway. This is not the first time Yuga Labs has undergone restructuring, as the company previously announced layoffs focused on its US employees in October of last year.
Yuga Labs gained recognition for creating the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, which has been highly successful and valuable. Following the success of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs released additional NFT collections like Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Kennel Club. In 2022, Yuga Labs secured $450 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz to develop the Otherside metaverse, which aims to integrate various NFT collections.
However, the value of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs declined significantly during the crypto market downturn, with prices dropping more than 90% from the collection’s peak. Despite this setback, Yuga Labs is determined to regain its footing and push forward with the development of the Otherside metaverse.