Yuga Labs, led by CEO Daniel Alegre, has successfully completed its restructuring process and is now turning its attention towards expanding its metaverse project, Otherside.
In a recent social media post, Alegre addressed concerns and feedback from Yuga Labs’ diverse NFT communities following the announcement of the company’s restructuring and staff reductions earlier this month.
“Despite the challenges we faced during the restructuring, we have now finalized the process and are moving forward with our new team setups,” Alegre stated.
Alegre outlined three main priorities for the restructured team: continuing to support existing communities, advancing the development of Otherside, and leveraging strategic partnerships.
When Alegre first joined Yuga Labs six months ago, tensions were high between the company and CryptoPunks, an NFT collection it acquired. To mend this relationship, the team has increased its engagement with top-tier museums to enhance CryptoPunks’ reputation and appeal among art collectors.
Regarding the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) project, Alegre emphasized that Yuga Labs will continue to support offline events to bring communities together.
In terms of partnerships, Alegre highlighted the company’s selective approach, mentioning long-term collaborations with Gucci and a recent partnership with BAPE®. He also teased upcoming collaborations to be announced soon.
Alegre reiterated Yuga Labs’ strong focus on the development of Otherside, emphasizing the acceleration of development to create unique digital experiences supported by robust and scalable technology.
He acknowledged the technical and creative challenges of building an immersive metaverse platform and noted recent partnerships with Hadean and Big Rhino, as well as the acquisition of Roar Studios, as steps towards achieving this goal.
The latest development in the legal disputes involving Yuga Labs and its BAYC NFTs occurred on Oct. 16 when a U.S. appeals court questioned the dismissal of a trademark lawsuit against artist Ryder Ripps, who has been accused of creating replicas of Yuga Labs’ BAYC NFTs.