Yuga Labs strengthens its dominance with the hiring of game managers

Not content with just being the leading player in the NFT industry in terms of market share, Yuga Labs has added a top gaming executive as its Chief Technology Officer. While the NFT boom is far from over, blockchain games did exceptionally well in the first quarter of the year.

The studio behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside, Yuga Labs, has announced the appointment of Mike Seavers as its new Chief Technology Officer. Seavers, who has over two decades of experience in technology and product management, previously served as Executive Vice President of Development at Epic Games, where he led the development of popular titles such as Fortnite and the Epic Games Store. He also served as Chief Technology Officer for Riot Games, supporting League of Legends, Valorant, and Legends of Runeterra.

A shift towards gaming

Seavers was not a random choice for a company looking to capitalize on the popularity of games. The market is likely to respond to a greater emphasis on utility and playability in the company’s digital assets and a goal to generate more meaningful interactions.

NFTs are booming, but they have come in for scrutiny for their one-dimensional nature since their surge in popularity in 2021. In this context, it is hard to ignore the growing importance of metaverse initiatives for fintech innovators.

Yuga’s Otherside metaverse is an important component of the overall strategy. Furthermore, an MMORPG based on the Bored Ape collection will be launched later this year.

Metaverse enterprises have security risks and are not immune from their share of scrutiny. As recently as April 12, the Metaverse platform MetaPoint was the victim of a hack costing almost $1 million. The hacker allegedly abused one of the platform’s smart contracts to steal the funds and then channeled them into Tornado Cash, making recovery difficult if not impossible.

But gaming continues to be very popular in the blockchain industry with a share of 44.37% of unique active wallets. Blockchain games have had a positive Q1, with an increase in dominance to 45.60% from 42.87% in Q4 2022.

Yuga buys Cryptopunks

Yuga Labs holds a top position in the NFT industry, with 16 collections representing 34.6% of the entire NFT market. Trading volume is also significant, reaching $2 billion in the past two quarters.

Its flagship collection, The Bored Ape Yacht Club, has become synonymous with NFTs even in the wider culture. As well as one of the most expensive. (Currently the floor price is 51ETH, or $96,000.)

The Otherside collection is the top performing metaverse NFT collection. It has $322 million in trading volume, an average selling price of $3,112, and 5.52 trades per NFT.

Last month, Yuga Labs added to its list of blue-chip assemblies. It acquired the IP for Cryptopunks, one of the oldest and most influential. Terms of the agreement were not available at press time.