Founded in 2020, YGG is making a global impact, starting from Southeast Asia, by changing the way millions of people worldwide are making money— especially during the pandemic.

As a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), YGG invests in NFTs used in blockchain-based games and virtual worlds. Their mission to create the biggest virtual world economy by bringing players together to earn via blockchain-based economies, making it a play-to-earn gaming guild.

When the pandemic hit the world, many countries suffered massive unemployment. Around this time, Axie Infinity released their Smooth Love Potion (SLP) token. Its ability to be exchanged for ETH or other tokens, and eventually cashed out for fiat money, caused play to earn to take off. This feature encouraged people without a background in crypto to join Axie Infinity on the YGG website and be a part of the community by playing games.

Since Axie Infinity, they have branched out into a variety of games and collectibles including, The League of Kingdoms, Illuvium, The Sandbox, Splinterland, and many others. The “play-to-earn” business model is the latest development in the gaming industry. By utilizing blockchain technology, DeFi, and community, it revolutionized the old gaming economy model and introduced an open economy.

But beyond creating an even playing field in the metaverse, YGG is deeply committed to uplifting their players and real-world communities. “Social impact is one of the core reasons YGG exists. It’s baked into our business model and it’s not something we just do after the fact,” YGG founder Gabby Dizon tells us. “We want to make sure that we can give equal economic access to everyone around the world, in the crypto economy, and the metaverse — and not just the people who are already in crypto or have a lot of money.”

GameFi and Southeast Asia

Play-to-earn games offer innovation that is primed for mass adoption. This new model is shaking up existing business models by empowering developers to create a whole new way to do business.

And it’s not stopping there. It’s changing the social, economic, and technological aspects of blockchain gaming. It’s not news that NFTs are the key to unlocking blockchain game progression in the crypto and gaming industry at large. (If you want to learn more about how much the gaming industry has changed, check out this article from Infinity Ventures Crypto.)

Play-to-earn has become an alternative—or, at times, even main—source of income for people in many places throughout Southeast Asia. One prime example is Nueva Ecija, a rural province north of Manila. According the APAC emerging tech consulting agency Emfarsis, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, users reported monthly earnings up to USD $400, more than doubling the average local minimum wage monthly income, which is around USD $168 per month. The news traveled across Southeast Asia and in the following months, Axie saw tremendous growth in its user activity. Users from all over the world join to play games and “play to earn” games. The Philippines became their biggest market, closely followed by Indonesia, Venezuela, and Brazil. All these countries have been hit hard due to COVID 19 and are struggling with a high rate of unemployment.

YGG’s Expanding Impact

Recently, YGG hosted their first-ever YGG Managers Cup, a series of Axie Infinity games to show their wide range of gaming guilds, including their most ambitious players and YGG community worldwide. The event consists of 16 different guilds, continuing for about six months, airing every other Sunday at 10 PM, SGT. All of the proceeds from the games will be donated to charity. YGG has chosen to support Gentle Hands, a child and youth welfare agency that’s committed to finding a home for orphaned or neglected children in the Philippines.

YGG has signed a scholarship deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX to allow Axie Infinity players in developing countries to get scholarships by loaning NFTs under the revenue sharing agreement to get them started on their journey. They also teamed up with a DeFi project HaloDAO, which allows YGG gamers to cash out through its stable coin-focused automated market maker (AMM) on Ethereum and Polygon networks. The agreement includes tracking gaming guild’s performance and assisting gamers to increase their earnings with yield farming.

YGG is also partnering with Merit Circle, which is also a DAO to expand the play-to-earn scholarship model that has helped many people in developing countries. Through their collaboration, they can assist each other by hosting events, lending assets (tokens, NFT assets, etc), as well as pursuing projects that will benefit both of their communities.

Players are now able to apply and receive a scholarship for Axie Infinity or purchase $MC (Merit Circle’s governance token) to be part of the DAO. Members of YGG can obtain membership NFTs, such as the YGG Founder’s Coin and Guild Badge, as well as the YGG Token, which functions as YGG’s primary governance token.

Currently, Merit Circle has over 1,200 Axie Infinity scholars earning through the game. Scholarship program scholars receive a 70/30 revenue split, with most in-game assets being delivered to them, and additional rewards paid via the upcoming $MC token.

YGG is not only making waves in the gaming industry, but it’s touch extends beyond the screen. They’re changing real lives, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds.

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