Yuga Labs, creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, are launching the Otherside metaverse in November.
The Otherside project, which fans have been waiting for more than two years, is finally coming to light. Yuga Labs announced the release of the metaverse at ApeFest in Las Vegas, showing that the BAYC brand is now more than just NFT. Back in 2022, the company raised $450 million to develop Otherside, but since then has remained silent. Now everything is changing, with the launch scheduled for November 12.
Otherside will compete with Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft
Otherside is a metaverse where gaming and communication are combined with Web3. Users will be able to play just like in Fortnite, Roblox or Minecraft. All you need is to create an account via email or connect a crypto wallet.
In the game, you can chat with friends or talk by voice. But the main difference of Otherside from the rest is the ability to buy NFTs. This is what makes the BAYC project unique compared to traditional gaming platforms.
Yuga Labs wants entry into the metaverse to be as simple as possible. According to one of the company directors, Michael Figge, a person should be able to easily enter Otherside, and only then learn what NFT ownership is.
“This is one of the most ambitious projects in the industry. And finally it is starting to take shape,” Figge said in an interview.
There will be several zones in the metaverse. The first is The Swamp, a reference to the original BAYC theme. The second is called Nexus and serves as the main hub. There will also be community games, including the zombie survival Bathroom Blitz and Otherside Outbreak.
Users will be able to join voice rooms called Bubbles — something like X Spaces or Clubhouse. NFTs can be used as 3D avatars if they are from supported collections. And those who don't have NFTs will be able to create their own character through Voyager, Yuga Labs' own tool.
Yuga Labs launches NFT avatars in partnership with Amazon
The company is preparing the Boximus collection, a joint project with Amazon. The main character is an avatar made of virtual boxes inspired by Amazon packaging. It will appear this Thursday on the company's official website. In addition, Yuga Labs will release another avatar collection together with digital artist Daniel Arsham.
All avatars and items in Otherside are tokens on the blockchain. Unlike regular games, here they can be freely sold, bought, or exchanged outside the platform itself. Figge compared the model to Fortnite, where people buy skins, but in the case of Otherside you actually own them.
Prices for avatars have not been announced yet, but Yuga Labs promises they will be “affordable and reasonable”.
Yuga Labs is betting on content creators; in the metaverse, you will be able to build your own games and worlds. The company wants to attract developers who are tired of strict boundaries and limited earning opportunities in Roblox and Minecraft.
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At ApeFest in Las Vegas, Michael Figge presented the Otherside Development Kit — a set of tools based on Unreal Engine. According to him, the goal is simple: to give the ability to quickly assemble a project, upload it, and launch it immediately. Everything should work without unnecessary hassle.
Figge believes that user-generated content in Otherside can compete with the largest Web2 games, which today have tens of millions of players. But at the same time, the industry hardly changes. He is confident that the focus on Web3 and creators can attract a new wave of developers.
The offline part of ApeFest was held at HyperX Arena and gathered more than 22 thousand viewers. OpenSea and other partners helped integrate the metaverse directly into the arena space, resulting in a real “live” entry into Otherside.
