Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have joined forces to develop and publish a blockchain game using BAYC’s popular Bored Ape non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Bored Ape Yacht Club boasts a collection of 10,000 NFT images that have become entrenched in popular culture, gaining widespread attention, and setting a US$26 million sale record for crypto art sold on fine arts auction house Sotheby’s.
Yuga Labs – Bored Ape Yacht Club’s creators – has established one of the most dedicated communities in the NFT market, producing NFT collections valued at more than $3 billion.
Collaborating on a "cultural milestone"
Animoca Brands co-founder and executive chair Yat Siu commented: “NFTs have emerged as a store of culture. There are very few icons that are able to represent the surging world of NFTs as powerfully as Bored Ape Yacht Club, which is why we, as a group and in aggregate, hold a significant number of them.
“We are incredibly excited and proud to collaborate on a game for this cultural milestone.”
Every Bored Ape NFT is unique and systematically generated from more than 170 possible traits, including expression, headwear, clothing and more. Bored Ape NFTs grant their owners access to members-only benefits ranging from merchandise drops to exclusive events.
Bored Ape NFTs were originally sold at 0.08 Ethereum (ETH) but have generated enough community furore through their ground-breaking style that Bored Ape #8817 was sold for $3.4 million at Sotheby’s in October.
“Animoca Brands is a trailblazer”
“We’re excited to work with Animoca Brands to grow the BAYC universe and expand the utility and benefits offered to all Bored Ape NFT holders,” said a Yuga Labs spokesperson.
“Animoca Brands is a trailblazer in the blockchain gaming space with a proven track record of delivering. We can’t wait to share more with the community about what we’re building.”
The new game is expected to release in the second quarter of 2022 and will feature play-to-earn mechanics.
About the companies
Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on the Ethereum blockchain that have become entrenched in popular culture.
Created by Yuga Labs, each Bored Ape NFT doubles as membership to an exclusive club, granting owners access to benefits ranging from merch drops to events.
Commonly known as BAYC, the collection was launched in April of 2021 and has expanded to include the spinoff collections Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC), and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC).
Animoca Brands is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain and gamification that is driving digital property rights via NFTs and gaming to help build the open metaverse.
It develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games and products utilising hundreds of popular intellectual properties.
Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 100 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralised projects that are contributing to building the open metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Bitski, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas and others.