Last week, Yuga Labs’ leadership team made a decision that has a major impact on the project after conferring in New York. Yuga Labs said on its official Twitter that its team will be reorganized to better focus on core priorities, but "these changes are necessary for the growth of the organization."
Layoffs and team reorganization
The crypto industry is a market that is highly connected to market conditions. Layoffs are almost a standard feature of every crypto company in a bear market. Yuga Labs, like other companies struggling in the bear market, has begun to lay off employees as expected.
The team said it had "some difficult news" to bring to everyone. Many roles will be eliminated across the company, and the reorganization will "affect many colleagues."
For colleagues who have been optimized, Yuga Labs said they are committed to providing them with all the support they need, including generous severance pay, COBRA insurance, and assistance in finding new job opportunities. A meeting will be held with affected employees in the United States today, and discussions will be held with affected employees, their department heads, and human resources teams.
A less “Web3” phenomenon is that off-chain practitioners are legal citizens of various countries, and layoffs are naturally divided by nationality. Yuga Labs pointed out that “today’s reorganization affects US team members, and we are actively reviewing the impact on the international team.” The official did not elaborate on the difference between the US team and the international team in the reorganization, so we can only wait and see. But the official also announced that more details will be disclosed at the upcoming all-staff meeting.
Is there any hope for Meebits and 10 KTF?
In this round of layoffs, the brands most affected may be 10 KTF and the acquired Meebits.
Official information shows that the teams of NFT projects Meebits and 10 KTF will be reorganized. This also means that it will be difficult for these two NFT projects to have their own teams, and the collections of these two series may suffer a major blow.
After the reorganization, the Meebits and 10 KTF teams will become part of Otherside.
Although Yuga Labs stated, "This does not mean that the brand's creative storytelling opportunities have disappeared, and there is still a lot to be done in Otherside." The brand value of both series will still be affected.
Regarding the future of these two NFT series, Yuga Labs said, “Meebits is a series built for the metaverse, and the 10 KTF store will eventually have a permanent home.”
How will the future develop?
Yuga Labs explained bluntly that its team will be reorganized to better focus on "core priorities." So what are the priorities?
In the disclosure information, the team gave three directions:
1. Committed to community expansion, growth, and brand interaction;
2. Go all out to implement the Otherside strategy, including unique initiatives such as games, entertainment experiences, and interactive social connections;
3. Focus internal development efforts on a few core things and continue to build complementary long-term partnerships.
Future plans are also given for its two major communities.
BAYC Community: The team will support the expansion of Made by Apes and other programs designed to empower members. The team members understand the importance of the early BAYC atmosphere and are committed to maintaining this energy while continuing to cultivate the culture and creativity of the community.
In terms of specific implementation, ApeFest Hong Kong will be held in the next few weeks. In addition, it will bring users important, versatile, and continuous gaming experiences in 2024.
CryptoPunks Community: The team will invest resources into cementing and celebrating the series’ crypto art legacy through education, including an upcoming book. Improve and streamline the Punks app, and continue to create engaging experiences.
Otherside will be the focus of development
The Meebits and 10 KTF teams were merged into Otherside, which is also the focus of future development. Officials said that the Otherside team will build new gaming experiences in 2024 through third-party partnerships.
The Otherside platform is expected to be demonstrated in 2024. Prior to this, the development of Otherside has been less disclosed to the public. Officials said that in order to solve this problem, regular development updates will begin to be provided in the coming weeks.
In addition, more partnerships will be developed. Recently, Yuga Labs has just announced stable partnerships, including Hadean, Bad Rhino, OMA 3, Accelbyte, Faraway, etc. In the future, brand partnerships will continue to be established, including with partners such as Gucci and A Bathing Ape, to expand new participation opportunities within the service community.
Has the road in the past become narrow?
An interesting detail is that the official said, "Partnerships are critical to our rapid and efficient growth, allowing us to focus on what we do best." Why did Yuga Labs say this?
According to the official explanation, in the past development path, Yuga Labs' work was too fragmented, making it difficult to focus on important "core things".
In six months, Yuga tried to develop a clear vision to focus the team on "creative storytelling" and "community building," saying "this is the core of Yuga."
However, Yuga Labs' large and complex business and numerous projects have spread the team too thin, requiring "executive expertise beyond our core competencies." This also laid the groundwork for Yuga Labs' reorganization today. For example, the official disclosure generously acknowledged the shortcomings of the game project - "especially in terms of game execution, we shouldn't do this."
After careful consideration, the core members of Yuga Labs believe that the team has taken on too much work and it is difficult to focus. Yuga Labs should benefit from more third-party forces. In the future, the team's work will be more focused on a few "key initiatives" and on "things that only Yuga can do."
NFTGO data shows that the current floor price of BAYC is 26.25 ETH, which has continued to decline in the past year. Compared with the ATH price (128 ETH), it has fallen by 80%. The repeated release of new game play has been criticized by the community. The governance mechanism of APE has been publicly complained by big players several times. The operation of other IPs acquired by Yuga is also not outstanding. Can this strategic adjustment put Yuga Labs' huge NFT empire on the right track? The NFT market has been disappointed many times, but it is still full of expectations.