Yuga Labs bolsters leadership with gaming industry vets

Yuga Labs, creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside, is adding prominent gaming professionals to its team, including Mike Seavers as its new CTO, in a strategic move to strengthen and expand its unicorn startup.

A few months following the appointment of ex-Activision president and COO Daniel Alegre as CEO, Yuga Labs, the mastermind behind Bored Ape Yacht Club and Otherside, is expanding its team with more seasoned gaming professionals to strengthen its unicorn startup.

Today, Yuga Labs disclosed that it has enlisted the expertise of Mike Seavers, a gaming industry veteran with previous experience at both Riot Games and Epic Games, to serve as its new chief technology officer (CTO). Upon Seavers’ arrival on May 22, the present CTO, Kerem Atalay, will assume an advisory position.

Enthusiastic about the transformative potential of web3, Seavers stated, “I am eager to join Yuga Labs in shaping a new chapter of the internet that positively impacts the world.”

Seavers brings a wealth of gaming industry knowledge, having served as CTO at Riot Games for seven years, where he contributed to hit games like League of Legends, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant.

Later, he held the position of CEO at game tech startup AppOnboard, securing $20 million in Series C funding for the Buildbox game engine.

His most recent role was as EVP of development at Epic Games, where he was responsible for product development and leading Fortnite’s engineering team.

Yuga Labs’ CEO, Daniel Alegre, emphasized that Seavers’ skills will be invaluable in helping the company scale and realize its vision of becoming a leading web3 platform for community and social engagement in media and entertainment.

Yuga Labs is doubling down on its gaming strategy, with the goal of making its forthcoming Otherside metaverse game a hit despite the fading excitement surrounding metaverse projects. Otherside is conceptualized as a social MMORPG that allows players to embark on adventures and explore a 3D world.

A recent DappRadar report revealed that Yuga Labs’ numerous NFT collections, such as Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, CryptoPunks, Meebits, and Otherdeeds, account for a significant 35% of the total NFT ecosystem’s market cap between October 2022 and March 2023.

Otherside, Yuga Labs’ flagship metaverse game, is the top-performing “metaverse” NFT collection to date, with approximately $322 million in total volume traded over the past six months and close to $1.25 billion in value since its launch last year.

ApeCoin has also emerged as the leading gaming-centric cryptocurrency, boasting a market cap of $1.48 billion.