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Cryptocurrency market continues to decline while notable developments occur in the NFT space. Accordingly, Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), announced it has transferred the intellectual property rights of two games, HV-MTL and Legends of the Mara, as part of a refocusing effort on a previously announced event.
Significant Move by Yuga Labs
In a post published on April 17 on X, Yuga Labs announced that the Web3 gaming studio Faraway has acquired the IP and added that Spencer Tucker, the chief game officer, will join Faraway as the new chief product officer to ensure continuity among the games at the new studio.
HV-MTL is an NFT-focused mechanical game where players manage and develop their NFTs in local environments. Meanwhile, Legends of the Mara, launched on April 30, 2022, is an adventure game that is part of the Otherside metaverse series. Yuga Labs and Faraway have been working closely for some time; Faraway had previously developed a game themed around the Mutant Ape Yacht Club called Serum City.
The decision by the Yuga team to transfer the IP of the game to Faraway reflects a broader move to free the team from constraints, initiated by the rejoining of co-founder Greg Solano to Yuga and the appointment of Daniel Allegre as the company’s CEO in February this year. On February 22, Solano stated on X:
“We want to free the BAYC team at Yuga as much as possible to act against its vision. More focus, more agility.”
BAYC Base Price Drops 90%
The announcement on April 17 came during a broader downturn in the NFT market; the flagship BAYC collection remains among the most interacted NFTs in top collections.
As of the writing of this article, the base price of the BAYC collection was 11.7 Ethereum, valued at $35,400, showing a stunning 92% drop from its all-time high base price of 153.7 Ethereum on May 1, 2022.
Earlier this year, Yuga Labs announced on January 7 that it would acquire the controversial Moonbirds collection and hire its creator, Kevin Rose, as a consultant, which sparked anger among NFT community owners and members.
