Yuga Labs CEO on crypto market: ‘This cycle is different’
There’s easily enough cash for at least another 2-3 years of Otherside game development, according to Greg Solano
Yuga Labs, modified by Blockworks
This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
Yuga Labs wants its “Otherside” game to be like the Roblox or Fortnite of crypto — and isn’t giving up, despite the ongoing blockchain gaming lull.
Part digital social space, part video game with the goal of making user-generated content a massive part of the experience, Otherside is arguably the most ambitious crypto metaverse project still in development.
“This cycle is very different. I feel like every crypto cycle is a little bit like a revenge on the excesses of the last one,” Yuga Labs CEO and cofounder Greg “Garga” Solano said in a recent interview.
“It’s a weird cycle in that, like, the quote-unquote ‘consumer-crypto’ part of things is actually insanely quiet. Whereas North America is coming onchain via treasury companies, ETFs. And then it’s like just the Zoomers that are coming onchain via like memecoins and pump.fun,” Solano said.
Things certainly are much quieter on the gaming front. DappRadar reported last month that crypto gaming funding is down 93% year-over-year, and user activity is on the decline as well.
Yuga saw over half a billion dollars in “Otherdeed” virtual land NFT sales in less than a single day during the 2022 NFT boom — after raising $450 million in funding.
If you ask me, if anyone has the dough to actually ship an expansive crypto game, it’s Yuga. But that also comes with a lot of pressure.
“The core Otherside holders don’t actually overlap a ton with Web3 gaming. It is a very collector-minded audience. And I think that’s also being taken into account,” Solano said of the decision to give Otherside a large social component.
On the development side, Solano said the Otherside team is “shipping at a faster cadence than we ever have.”
When asked whether Otherside has enough funding for another two to three years of development, Solano told crypto investor Jonah Blake:
“Yes. Hands down. We can do that just with cash without ever even touching any crypto assets that we own.”
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- 0xResearch: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst.
