Behind the vigorous acquisition strategy: The loss of Yuga Labs

When Yuga Labs announced the acquisition of PROOF, the development team of Moonbirds, there was almost no doubt about Yuga Labs’ label of “LVMH of NFT”. Now, Yuga Labs owns top NFT IP/projects such as CryptoPunks, BAYC, MAYC, BAKC, "Monkeyland" Otherdeed, Meebits, Moonbirds, etc. These projects account for 8 of the top 15 projects with the largest transaction volume in OpenSea history.

However, Yuga Labs has recently faced some unprecedented competitive pressures. On February 17, Pudgy Penguins’ flooring prices surpassed BAYC’s for the first time. While Yuga Labs has made progress with acquisitions in recent years, at the same time, the allure of Bored Ape has waned.

We can’t help but ask, why? Why are Pudgy Penguins gaining traction in the market? Why did the "boring ape" lose its charm?

"The project team is doing something" is not a sarcasm, NFT players are actually very tolerant

"In the NFT community, there is a widely circulated slogan that 'the limit is justice', which reflects Players' attitudes towards price fluctuations in the NFT market. At the same time, another popular saying is that 'the project party is causing trouble'. Many players often half-jokingly express their concern about teams that actively promote project development, believing that the more active the project party, the more The more likely it is that NFT prices will fall."

However, the success of Pudgy Penguins proves that many project parties are actually just moving themselves or staying in their comfort zone. The so-called "doing things" does not allow them to clearly see the long-term strategy of the project, nor can it bring lasting value to the project.

In the last bull market of NFT, every PFP project would say that they wanted to do IP. The results of it? What we see is releasing new series, issuing tokens, staking...most of them stay in their own comfort zone, and use the familiar Pond's incentive involution in Web3. In fact, making IP is a long-term project, and teams that start with Web3 are often only good at operating in the NFT or Web3 circles. When a project party successfully obtains money from retail investors with dreams, how much of it is spent on hiring professional talents in brand structure, content creation, social media operations, etc.?

Is pulling a plate just? Yes, it can even be said that the increase in floor prices is the biggest source of emotional value for NFT players. Are there market makers behind Pudgy Penguins? I don’t know, but I believe most people agree that the answer to this question is “yes.” So could Pudgy Penguins achieve such huge success just by pulling the wheel?

cannot. Such success requires the joint efforts of possible market makers and retail investors’ value recognition. Pudgy Penguins' series of logics in IP construction are reasonable. They have formulated a brand concept that matches their cute and friendly image. They chose the breakthrough point of selling toys based on the characteristics of the image and achieved good results. These things, combined with the increase in floor prices, have not only stabilized their own communities, but also formed new value recognition among the NFT player group:

"NFT projects that do well can really rise"

Whether the narrative is logical or not depends on whether the market recognizes it. So we can also see that Doodles, which was criticized so much before, has also risen by nearly 70% in the past month. What are the benefits? No, the latest news is a joint watch with G-SHOCK, but Doodles has been “doing things”.

Cool Cats has also started to "make toys", so in the past month, Cool Cats has also achieved a similar increase as Doodles.

On the road to IP, Pudgy Penguins can only be said to have had a good start, but it has already had such an amazing performance in the NFT market. NFT players are actually really tolerant and not toxic at all.

"As long as the tide is high, it will recede one day"

Pudgy Penguins' floor price surpassed BAYC, which is regarded by many players as a historic moment. In fact, many NFT players are not surprised, and they all have their own perspectives to explain why they think this historic moment is actually an "inevitability." But for me, the answer to this question is actually very simple:

"Yuga Labs is no longer cool"

Does BAYC, or Yuga Labs, still remember where it came from? I’m not saying that they have forgotten that they are an NFT project, I am saying that do they still remember the excitement of “I am going to do something cool” when they did BAYC, and forget the idealism of the past?

「Let's make a NFT」，一切都源于 Yuga Labs 联合创始人之一 Greg Solano 的这句话

"Hang out in a secret club in the swamp, for apes only. And doodle on a collaborative pixel board on the wall of the club's bathroom" was the vibe that captivated the audience at the time Since I couldn't afford BAYC, I tried my best to observe the BAYC holders, and I felt like I was in a drunken tavern filled with unconstrained idealists.

曾经的 vibe，曾经的团结，曾经的社区交流与集体决策，究竟是在何时消失的？「Apes together strong」的口号似乎变得越来越空洞，社区看着 Yuga Labs 在收购的路上一路狂奔，掏出一个个伴随着新资产的小游戏（Otherside 很酷，但那之后...）。在商业上，Yuga Labs 一直在拓展，但留给社区的，似乎更多的是迷茫与失落。

无论是做 IP，还是做游戏，这些都是 NFT 在第一轮急速而剧烈的价值膨胀后规划的新故事。尽管在后来，NFT 玩家们对这些新故事产生了免疫，甚至嗤之以鼻，但其一这并不可耻——就像股票，有时候你也可以认为一家公司是在讲故事->交付->讲新的故事中循环，只是能交付的叫价值，不能交付的叫泡沫。其二，在当时，大家是发自内心地对这些 NFT 无限的可能性感到振奋，并且站在新时代浪潮上的发自内心地感叹——

「酷！」

根据 Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz 的「NFT 价值积累漏斗」理论，8888 个 Pudgy Penguins，假定能有 300 万个忠实粉丝，只要有 0.3% 的转化率就可以消化完。但 NFT 毕竟不是证券，无论实体业务运营到有多高的利润，NFT 都很难在现行监管下直接给持有者分红。那么这种粉丝转化到消费 NFT「收藏品」，还是得靠「酷」。

「NFT 价值积累漏斗」理论

如果 BAYC 一开始不「酷」，那就不会吸引到一帮坚定的支持者，谁看到一个满是纸手的项目会想对其进行拉抬呢？对「酷」的遗忘，其实是对社区的抛弃，也是忘记了初心。

如同 NFT 巨鲸「关老师」@jivacore 所说的那样，「Yuga Labs 就像 Supreme 也不酷了一样，只要是潮水，就有退去的一天」。

而 BAYC 社区的声音中，让我感触最深的，不是那些大 V 对于 Yuga Labs 本次收购的不解或是批评，而是 @votefloridaman 的这句话：

「Degen Only 这句座右铭，已随风而逝」

结语

我们快要熬过了 NFT 乃至整个加密市场的寒冬。作为一直坚持在 NFT 领域的从业者，我能够坚持下来的理由只有一个：

NFT 真的很酷很有趣，我们不缺好的项目，只是缺好的团队。

怎么做，其实是在于怎么想。失去了那份感动，再大的 NFT 项目和一个市值庞大但慢慢走向衰亡的、有图片的「山寨 Token」真的还有什么区别吗？

NFT 一定有下一轮牛市，且一定会是最吸引年轻人的加密资产。对于 BAYC 这样有着高昂地板价的系列，像我这样属于绝大多数的平民 NFT 玩家是消费不起的，那对于剩下 10% 有消费能力的玩家来说，该如何去吸引他们呢？

留给 Yuga Labs 思考的时间，也许不多了，这将是一场与牛市的赛跑。

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