The NFT mega-company has been working diligently to create a virtual playground for its Web3 community, and its most recent live demo aims to put Bored Ape Yacht Club members back at the heart of its world.
Yuga Labs, a Web3 giant, has been utterly committed to developing its Otherside metaverse ever since it first hinted at it last year.
The 55,000-edition collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tied to real estate in the virtual world dubbed “Otherdeeds” has done over 609,073 ETH (about $1.1 billion) in trading volume since its April 2022 debut, despite a problematic mint that congested Ethereum and drove up gas costs.
Wylie Aronow, a co-founder of Yuga Labs who has since resigned from the endeavor, previously informed me that the business is fully committed to creating its gamified virtual world, which is intended to be the “intersection” of all of its NFT brands, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Meebits, and 10KTF.
Recently hired leaders with experience in the gaming industry, including new CEO Daniel Alegre, previously of Activision Blizzard, chief gaming officer Spencer Tucker, and chief creative officer Michael Figge, have joined the firm to aid with its expansion.
Holders of Otherdeed NFTs participated in live virtual demos dubbed “Trips” that attracted hundreds of players (referred to as “voyagers”) at a time, anxiously anticipating the game’s debut.
Travelers may converse with one another and work in teams to complete objectives during these Trips, which include a variety of well-known influencers and streamers (Snoop Dogg’s son and NFT collector Cordell Broadus led one team during the most recent event in March).
However, owners of Otherdeed are growing increasingly concerned about the game’s performance as the NFT market struggles in the midst of a protracted bear market and as interest in Yuga Lab’s main NFT brand Bored Ape Yacht Club has decreased among previously ardent collectors.
These worries are known to Yuga Labs, which also recognizes the significance of Otherside to the company’s future development.
In order to prevent users from “still feeling uncertain” about its development in a year, the business wants to provide more “short-term experiences” until Otherside is ready to be completely published as an immersive, buildable virtual environment, according to CEO Daniel Alegre, who made the statement to Axios earlier this month.
In order to demonstrate an enormous new place inside its metaverse, Yuga Labs invited 40 travelers to a soundstage in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The event, which was especially designed for Bored Ape owners, featured snacks and goods made by community members who used the intellectual property (IP) of their NFT character in their commercial endeavors.
The chosen Ape bearers traveled around a huge island built for the experience—dubbed a “tier 5” island for its enormous size—during the demo, which was not an official Trip but allowed them to provide Yuga Labs valuable input in real time.
The roughly 2.4 square kilometer digital island, according to Figge, was created to serve as a virtual clubhouse for the Bored Ape community and to demonstrate Otherside’s possible use cases for other groups wishing to converge on Web3.
This in-person live demo was devoid of many of the theatrical components in order to bring the experience closer to the user.
In contrast to the Otherside Trips, which are significant technological and creative initiatives that enable thousands of people from across the world to engage in highly-curated experiences.
Participating in the live demo with his nautically themed Ape, Richard Porfirio, often known online as Richpor, got a sneak peek at how NFT avatars would soon be able to explore the area.
He told CoinDesk, “It was nice to kind of just wander off on our own with no particular objective in mind.”
Porfirio believes Otherside will serve as a multifunctional center for millions of Web3 users based on his assessment.
He continued, “I could see all kinds of things, like Twitter Spaces being held there and live events, observations, where we can watch sporting events or go to weddings together and have these digital experiences.”
He also expressed his hope that the platform would incorporate a market place for trading collectibles.
“I think that Other side has a really great opportunity to bring these things to the masses at a level that’s not really there yet.”
While Otherside still has no official public release date, Figge told CoinDesk that the team is eager to offer a persistent space for holders “as soon as possible.”
For now, the game has an “11-part Obelisk rollout” that is part of its larger Otherside lore.
Porfirio and the rest of the Bored Ape community, who are eager to reclaim the social prestige they gained during the NFT boom, received support from the current Otherside demo as well.
“I think that Apes have a critical role [in Otherside], being welcoming and kind and being able to have fun more than anything,” he said. “That’s pretty much what we’re good at.”
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