Yuga Labs is a multi-billion dollar company responsible for leading cryptocurrency brands including: Boring Monkey Yacht Club and CryptopunkThe company found itself in hot water this week after implementing a solution to address fan complaints with a new NFT mint connected to the Ape-themed metaverse. the other side.
The story began on Tuesday when Yuga announced that players who successfully complete missions in the Legends of the Mara game on the Otherside platform can now earn on-chain collectibles called “Loot” as rewards.
Players quickly jumped in to mint NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, but discovered that the gas fees resulting from these transactions were quite expensive, especially considering that “loot” was considered a free perk.
This wasn’t the first rodeo where gas costs were high. In 2022, Otherside’s enthusiastic deed for a virtual land plot brings users to tears. $157 million Spurring transaction costs widespread frustration With the handling of the oil price situation.
Perhaps through these events, Yuga’s leadership attempted to rectify the bad feelings about this week’s “loot” minting through a reconciliation offer. On Thursday, Spencer Tucker, Yuga’s chief gaming officer. Posted on Twitter Community outrage over Loot gas costs was justified. To make up for the situation, he said all affected users are eligible to claim a free “Catalyst”, another in-game on-chain perk.
The community’s reaction may not have been what Yuga had hoped. Otherside players have criticized this concession, arguing that it fails to address structural issues with how Otherside expects users to mint valuable NFTs on Ethereum.
Within hours, Yuga co-founder Greg Solano intervened. announce The free Catalyst giveaway has been discontinued after community backlash. Instead, all gas costs charged by Otherside players attempting to craft loot are fully covered and reimbursed by Yuga.
“Thank you for calling us and putting up with us about our problems,” Solano wrote.
However, for many Otherside players, this second solution also did not solve the critical issue of Yuga’s dependence on the expensive Ethereum mainnet for on-chain transactions.
“These two back-to-back decisions raise further concerns about the state of Otherside as a whole, the Mayor of Agora, and who approves these decisions.” YouTuber JRNY Crypto wrote In response to this on Twitter: “These decisions are beginner-level mistakes, not the mistakes of the industry’s largest company developing the metaverse.”
Otherside has so far not publicly committed to transforming on-chain commerce into a more cost-effective method. Ethereum Layer-2 network or other alternative blockchain. Yuga Labs declined to comment. decryption It goes beyond pointing to Solano’s tweet statement.
Independent ApeCoin DAO Decentralized Autonomous Organization managing Ape Coin, the cryptocurrency for the Bored Ape ecosystem, has long advocated for the creation of its own blockchain called ApeChain. The DAO is currently reviewing proposals from several layer 2 networks, including: optimism, decisionand polygon Supports ApeChain construction.
While Yuga Labs previously featured ApeCoin DAO. must explore Although it created its own blockchain to solve Ethereum traffic and cost issues, the company has never publicly committed to using such a network to power Otherside.
However, you may be running out of time. Even Yuga’s leadership publicly acknowledged this week that continued reliance on the Ethereum mainnet may not be sustainable.
“Mining loot on layer 1 results in poor item-to-gas ratio.” Spencer Tucker, Chief Gaming Officer at Yuga wrote Thursday on Twitter.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
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