April 30, 2022 (9:00pm ET) – Today, Yuga Labs, the creators of The Bored Ape Yacht Club, announced new details around Otherside, a gamified, interoperable metaverse currently under development. Otherside blends mechanics from massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and Web3-enabled virtual worlds. In partnership with Improbable, the metaverse technology company, Yuga Labs aims to create a MetaRPG universe where the players own the world, where any NFT can become a playable character, and thousands of people can play together at the same time. Improbable will develop Otherside on the M² network, creating an open metaverse on which the community can build and own unique characters and experiences.
Otherside will be an always-evolving metaverse co-developed with its players. The mission is to make Otherside immersive, interactive and collaborative in a way that has never been done before. As a first step, holders of ‘Otherdeed’ NFTs offered by Animoca can participate in prototype builds, demos and tests that shape the final game design and experience. An Otherdeed is the key to exploring and building land in Otherside. Each Otherdeed is designed as a collection of elements – resources, environment, sediment and treasures – that will dynamically evolve based on the cultivation and use of these elements over time. And on a very few, a Koda roams.
“We have seen how walled-gardens and closed networks exploit the people that spend time on the services for the benefit of few. By enabling ownership in an open network, we think Otherside will attract creators and become a world that has something for everyone,” said Nicole Muniz, CEO at Yuga Labs. “This adventure is too big for one ape, one club. This is a new MetaRPG, with new rules. And it's all of ours to play.”
Yuga Labs and Improbable are partnering to make Otherside where the impossible happens. With the power of Improbable’s M² technology, 10,000+ players will be able to interact simultaneously in a single place, connect with natural voice chat (even in crowds of thousands), experience rich, immersive gameplay supported by AI and physics, and move between metaverses. Otherside players will break through barriers in scale, bandwidth and rendering as they create new types of gameplay and social possibilities.
“Otherside is going to blow people’s minds while upending decades-long ideas of what gaming is and what’s possible with open platforms,” said Herman Narula, CEO at Improbable. “In just our early development, we’ve successfully tested over 15,000 people interacting in the same virtual space at the same time using M² technology. Partnering with Yuga we think we are helping lay the foundation for something that will open the door to new experiences across art, entertainment, gaming and more in a big way.”
If you like building your own stuff, you can do that too. Yuga Labs will offer an SDK that will allow creators to make things for the Otherside as well as sell them in the game’s marketplace – not just characters, but also outfits, tools, structures and even games.
About Yuga Labs
The possibilities for blockchain’s impact on culture are endless. Yuga Labs is a Web3 platform building what’s next, most known for the creation of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and its recent acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits. For more information on Yuga Labs visit yugalabs.io or email press@yugalabs.io.
About Improbable
Improbable is a British metaverse technology company. Improbable partners with video game developers, entertainment companies, and defense and academic institutions to enable powerful, virtual worlds of unprecedented size and usefulness. Improbable has engaged Galaxy Digital as exclusive financial advisor in exploring strategic initiatives. Find more news on improbable.io and register for updates at stakeholders.improbable.io. For more information, please reach out to press@improbable.io or marineboulot@improbable.io.