Yuga Labs’ first big game swing was already a success, but now the web3 studio best known for creating the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection said its latest video game Forge is retaining twice as many users as its previous title .
“Forge, the retention rate is twice that of Dookey Dash, with a retention rate on day 10 of 42%Yuga Labs Chief Gaming Officer Spencer Tucker told The Block. Tucker joined Yuga about a year ago having previously worked at the mobile game studio Scopely.
Yuga launched Dookey Dash earlier this year and generated more than $110 million in trading volume for the game’s Sewer Pass NFTs, according to CryptoSlam! facts. Additionally, a well-known Fortnite gamer won the game’s short-lived match, earning $1.6 million for his efforts.
Tucker pointed out that not only did the vast majority of players who tried Dookey Dash not own Yuga NFT, the game also led many gamers to set up new wallets.
“Seventy-five percent of Dookey Dash players had no NFTs from Yuga’s ecosystem and we saw 40% growth in unique portfolios,” he said.
After Dookey Dash, Yuga launched the first season of his new video game HV-MTL (or Heavy Metal) Forge in June. When playing the more socially driven game, users compete for the admiration of other players. To play, gamers must own one of the 30,000 HV-MTL NFTs that currently have a bottom price of 0.57 ether (about $1,045) and have generated nearly $64 million in trading volume since the initial launch in March, according to data from OpenSea.
Forget the NFTs
HV-MTL Forge will have six seasons and two modes, according to Yuga, with the second mode starting in the coming weeks.
Of the other leading NFT brands seeking to capitalize on the popularity of its intellectual property while expanding its reach, Yuga may have an edge on engagement, if not certainly on economic terms, making tens of millions of dollars worth of trade in digital assets are incentivized tied to gaming.
“We’re expanding the definition of what digital collectibles are,” Tucker said. “You really forget you’re interacting with NFTs when you enter our experiences.”