Layoffs, restructuring, strategic adjustments, Yuga Labs, the Web3 Disney wakes up from its dream

Web3 Disney, Yuga Labs, wakes up from dream with layoffs, restructuring, and strategic adjustments.

Author: Loopy, Odaily Star Daily

Last week, after a meeting in New York, the leadership team of Yuga Labs made a decision that has a significant impact on the project. Yuga Labs stated on its official Twitter account that the team will undergo restructuring to better focus on core priorities, but “these changes are necessary for the organization’s development.”

Layoffs and Team Restructuring

The cryptocurrency industry is closely tied to market conditions. Layoffs are almost a standard practice for every cryptocurrency company during a bear market. Yuga Labs, like other struggling companies in a bear market, has begun the expected layoffs.

The team stated that they have brought “some difficult news” and the entire company will be eliminating many roles. This restructuring will “affect many colleagues.”

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For colleagues who are being optimized out, Yuga Labs stated that they are committed to providing all the necessary support, including generous severance packages, COBRA insurance, and assistance in finding new job opportunities. A meeting will be held today with affected employees in the United States to discuss the situation with the affected employees, their department heads, and the HR team.

Another phenomenon that is not so “Web3” is that off-chain practitioners are ultimately citizens of various countries in a legal sense, and layoffs naturally have national distinctions. Yuga Labs pointed out, “Today’s restructuring affects members of the US team, and we are actively reviewing the impact on the international team.” The official did not specify the differences between the US team and the international team in the restructuring matters, so we can only wait for further developments. However, the official also announced that more details will be disclosed at the upcoming all-hands meeting.

Can Meebits, 10 KTF be saved?

In this round of layoffs, the most affected brands may be 10 KTF and Meebits, which were acquired.

Official information shows that the teams of the NFT projects Meebits and 10 KTF will be restructured. This also means that these two NFT projects may no longer have their own dedicated teams, and these two collections may be greatly affected.

After the restructuring, the teams of Meebits and 10 KTF will become part of Otherside.

Although Yuga Labs stated, “This does not mean that the creative narrative opportunities for the brand have disappeared. There are still many things to be done in Otherside,” the brand value of these two collections will still be affected.

Regarding the future of these two NFT collections, Yuga Labs stated, “Meebits is a series created for the metaverse, and the 10 KTF store will eventually have a permanent home.”

How will the future develop?

Yuga Labs straightforwardly explained that the team will undergo restructuring to better focus on “core priorities.” So what are these priorities?

In the disclosed information, the team provided three directions:

1. Committed to community expansion, growth, and brand interaction;

2. Fully implement the Otherside strategy, including unique measures such as games, entertainment experiences, and interactive social connections;

3. Internal development focuses on a few core things and continues to build complementary long-term partnerships.

As for its two major communities, future plans are also provided.

BAYC Community: The team will support the expansion of “Made by Apes” and other projects aimed at enhancing member capabilities. The team understands the importance of the “early BAYC atmosphere” and is 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, important, multifunctional, and continuous gaming experiences will be brought to users in 2024.

CryptoPunks Community: The team will invest resources to consolidate and celebrate the series’ cryptographic art heritage through education (including the upcoming publication of a book). They will improve and simplify the Punks application and continue to create engaging experiences.

Otherside will be the focus of development

The Meebits and 10 KTF teams have been integrated into Otherside, which will also be the future focus of development. The official statement indicates that the Otherside team will establish new gaming experiences in 2024 through third-party partnerships.

The Otherside platform is expected to be showcased in 2024. Prior to this, the development of Otherside has been relatively undisclosed. To address this issue, regular development updates will be provided in the next few weeks.

In addition, more partnerships will be established. Recently, Yuga Labs announced stable partnerships with companies such as Hadean, Bad Rhino, OMA 3, Accelbyte, and Faraway. In the future, brand partnerships will continue to be established, including collaborations with Gucci, A Bathing Ape, and other partners, to expand new participation opportunities within the serviced community.

Narrowing the past path?

An interesting detail is that the official statement says, “Partnerships are crucial to our rapid and effective growth, allowing us to focus on what we do best.” Why did Yuga Labs say this?

According to the official explanation, Yuga Labs’ work has been too scattered on the past development path, making it difficult to concentrate on important “core things.”

In the past six months, Yuga has been trying to formulate a clear vision and focus the team on “creative storytelling” and “community building,” stating that “this is Yuga’s core.”

However, Yuga Labs’ large and complex business and numerous projects have spread the team too thin, requiring “execution expertise beyond our core competencies.” This has also laid the groundwork for Yuga Labs’ restructuring today. For example, the official disclosure candidly acknowledges the shortcomings of game projects, stating, “We shouldn’t be doing this, especially in terms of game execution.”

After careful consideration, the core members of Yuga Labs believe that the team has taken on too much work, making it difficult to focus. Yuga Labs should benefit from more third-party collaboration. In the future, the team’s work will be more focused on a few “key initiatives” and on things that only Yuga can do.

According to NFTGO data, the current floor price of BAYC is 26.25 ETH, which has been continuously decreasing over the past year and has dropped by 80% compared to the ATH price (128 ETH). Despite launching new gameplay multiple times, it has received numerous criticisms from the community. The governance mechanism of APE has been openly criticized by major holders. The other IP operations acquired by Yuga have also failed to shine. Will this strategic adjustment allow Yuga Labs’ vast NFT empire to get back on track? The NFT market has been disappointed multiple times, but still holds high expectations.

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