Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Features writer
Jeffrey Gogo
Features writer
Jeffrey Gogo
share
Facts checked by
Elena Bozhkova
Features Lead
Elena Bozhkova
Key Takeaways:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs is launching its much-awaited Otherside metaverse on Nov. 12.
- The project could be Web3’s last big swing at proving that NFTs and virtual worlds still matter.
- But analysts say the metaverse ship has sailed.
Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs will launch its long-awaited metaverse project “Otherside” on November 12, in a desperate bid to revive interest in the popular monkey-themed NFT brand and virtual worlds.
The Florida-based company has risen $450 million at a valuation of $4 billion in 2022 to build Elsewherea 3D virtual world that combines gaming, social networking and blockchain technology, in particular, non-fungible tokens (NFT).
Since then, Yuga Labs has said very little publicly about the project. However, recently the team revealed that Otherside will finally be released in November after two years of development.
The company says users will be able to join Otherside using traditional email or a crypto wallet. Players can explore, build and interact just like in Fortnite, Roblox or Minecraft, according to industry media reports.
But unlike those rival platforms, Otherside also allows users to buy and trade digital assets like NFTs, including Bored Apes, the cartoonish monkey characters that once defined crypto culture in the early 2020s.
The launch of the project comes at a time when interest in the metaverse and NFT has fallen. Bored Ape NFT prices, once the ultimate status symbol, selling for over $400,000 each, have down 90% from its peak.
So, others can help bring the metaverse – a virtual world where people can interact, work and create using technology like virtual reality – come back to life? Many people believe metaverse is dead, recorded by AI.
Resurrection of the Metaverse
“It would be difficult for any company to revive interest in the metaverse to the level of 2021,” said Sasha Barrie, a former holder of the Bored Ape Yacht Collection (BAYC). Cryptonews.
“This hype will probably never come back, but NFT technology and various applications will continue to grow,” he added.
Barrie said Yuga Labs’ continued interest in the metaverse “gives hope,” but cautioned against expecting a mass revival.
“Yuga no longer commands attention. Even at the height of his power, he only really moved the needle in crypto. The mainstream metaverse was then, and remains, in Roblox and Minecraft.”
Yuga Labs product manager Michael Figge described Otherside as “one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in space.” The Virgin, who first reported the news.
But analysts say the project will serve as a test for whether the game that integrates blockchain technology, complete with a digital currency, NFT avatars and tokenized land, can reach users outside of early crypto adopters.
“The first wave of the metaverse was driven by speculation and novelty,” says Nokkvi Dan Ellidason, CEO of monetized game launcher and gaming ecosystem Gaimin. Cryptonews.
“The next wave will be fueled by utility, affordability and real engagement,” he said, adding:
“If Yuga Labs can make the Otherside fun and frictionless, they can absolutely reignite interest. But the relevance cycle no longer responds to hype; it responds to value.”
Catie Romero Finger, CEO of consulting firm Web3 BABs, agreed, saying that the next generation of virtual worlds should offer real utility, including things like game loops and tokenized economies, not speculation.
“The metaverse hype cycle has peaked and crashed,” said Romero Finger Cryptonews. “Stand-alone narratives like a non-fungible token like JPEG or metaverse like a ‘virtual world’ are no longer compelling.”
“If they [Yuga Labs] create something that… provides meaningful interoperability or player-driven creation, they might be able to bring back a niche audience that craves this narrative return. People don’t want metaverses; they want experiences with utility.”
Bored Ape Yacht Club: A Declining Brand
Yuga Labs turned NFTs into a cultural showcase when it launched during the 2021 bull market. Its Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, 10,000 images of algorithmically generated primates, attracted A-list celebrity buyers like Eminem, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Fallon and others.
NFTs have become a membership card, giving access to exclusive online events, merchandise and music offers. Eminem and Snoop Dogg also performed together as their Bored Apes in the metaverse.
But after the 2022 crypto crash and a long bear market that wiped out most NFT valuations, the BAYC brand, which outpaced OpenSea NFT sales with about $4.8 billion in transaction volume, began to fade.
For example, a Bored Ape NFT Justin Bieber bought for $1.3 million in 2021 it is now said to be worth only $60,000. The other part represents a creative pivot and a reputation game for Yuga Labs. As Barrie, the former owner of BAYC, notes:
“The BAYC brand has lost most of its power. But the club still has a group of small but loyal owners who have some pull in the space. If Otherside is really big, it will have a strong initial community that can help it grow.”
Barrie said the “very loyal” following, along with Yuga’s high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Animoca Brands, could give Otherside a boost. But keeping the momentum will be much more difficult.
“Who knows, Otherside may become the first game built the “Web3 way”, he said. “It is extremely difficult to build a successful game. I’d love to be proven wrong, but it’s hard to imagine lightning striking Yuga twice. “
Not everyone agrees. Irina Karagyaur is the co-founder and CEO of the ecosystem growth agency BQ9. She said Cryptonews that Otherside is an opportunity for Yuga Labs to reposition itself for a more mature market.
“I firmly believe they can [succeed],” said Karagyaur, who is also an expert contributor to the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Focus Group on the Metaverse.
“The Bored Ape brand and its community are one of the most established and resilient in the NFT space. Endorsed by some of the most reputable leaders in Web3, BAYC has been able to build a strong community culture known for exclusivity and high-quality events, which drive public demand.”
The other part moves from speculation to strategy
Karagyaur said Yuga’s purchase of collectible NFT Meebits and Crypto Punks it brought blue-chip IP under one roof, which could support cross-collection interoperability, one of the key promises of a true metaverse.
He also mentioned the favorable trends of the industry. According to data from HorizonThe global gaming industry is expected to grow at a rate of 12% annually, from $300 billion in 2025 to $600 billion by 2030, driven by mobile, cloud, and social gaming.
Meanwhile, “the economy of the creator is growing even faster, with the forecast of earnings of the creator to triple to $ 500 billion in the same period. Therefore, for the moment, BAYC will not lack demand or opportunity”, said Karagyaur.
But she warned that scaling Otherside to mass adoption would require a lot of money. “Getting 100 million active users could cost $300 million to $500 million in marketing and incentives alone,” said BQ9’s CEO.
“It’s a long-term game, but if Otherside connects the dots between gameplay, social engagement and creator economies well, Yuga Labs will redefine what the metaverse means in this new cycle.”
Romero Finger, the co-founder of BABs, insisted that the “only way” to bring the Bored Ape brand back is to pivot from exclusivity to utility. Yuga Labs can leverage existing holders to turn Apes into access tokens to say for real benefits, such as revenue sharing or IP licensing tools, he said.
“Without that, it remains a nostalgic artifact of 2021 speculation.”
Make Web3 invisible to Metaverse users
The other advantage is in its integration of NFT and crypto wallets, which allow players to buy, sell and own assets in-game. Karagyaur said the feature could unlock new digital economies that would help boost the metaverse.
“Technically, it enables verifiable ownership, secondary markets and user-driven economies that centralized games cannot replicate.”
“But in practice,” he added, “this advantage materializes only if the experience is frictionless. When the configuration of the portfolio, asset management, or speculation overshadow the gameplay, that edge disappears.
Karagyaur said, “The real opportunity is to make Web3 invisible to the user,” that is, by embedding the property seamlessly into the game without requiring players to directly interact with the blockchain mechanics.
Four years since Mark Zuckerberg changed his name Facebook to Meta to reflect his then strategic turn to the metaverse, the concept has become one of the biggest technology failures in recent memory.
Unable to meet its lofty promises, the billions that once flowed into the sector have dried up, and public interest has waned.
In 2024, the trading volume and the number of sales for NFT projects of the metaverse reached their lowest levels since 2020, with volumes slumping 80% and sales crashing 71% from a year earlier, according to DappRadar.
