Key Takeaways
Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a gaming DAO that connects blockchain gamers and guilds worldwide, investing in NFT assets and coordinating players across play-to-earn (P2E) games.
YGG uses a SubDAO structure to organize players by game or region. By 2025, it operates 42+ sub-guilds globally, with a 70/30 revenue split between sub-guilds and the main DAO.
The original NFT scholarship model (lending Axies to new players) evolved into a merit-based Guild Advancement Program (GAP) and then into YGG 2.0, a protocol layer supporting onchain reputation, questing, and game publishing.
The YGG token (ERC-20, 1B total supply) is used for governance, staking, and as a revenue-share asset, with treasury income directed to buybacks and burns following the YGG 2.0 redesign.
Introduction
The play-to-earn (P2E) model opened up new earning possibilities for gamers in developing countries, but many couldn't afford the upfront cost of the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) needed to participate. Yield Guild Games (YGG) was built to solve that problem - first by lending NFTs to players who couldn't afford them, and later by evolving into a full-scale Web3 gaming protocol. This article explains how YGG works, what its SubDAO structure does, and how the project has changed since its early Axie Infinity roots.
What Is Yield Guild Games (YGG)?
Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that invests in NFTs used in blockchain games and coordinates a global network of players and guilds. These games are part of the broader metaverse - the ecosystem of blockchain-based digital worlds that includes virtual land, digital assets, and in-game economies.
The idea for a global P2E gaming community emerged in 2018. Co-founder and CEO Gabby Dizon noticed that blockchain gaming was gaining traction in Southeast Asia, but many players couldn't afford the NFT characters needed to play popular games like Axie Infinity. Dizon began lending his own Axie NFTs to players who lacked capital, which eventually led him to co-found Yield Guild Games with Beryl Li in 2020.
How Does Yield Guild Games Work?
Yield Guild Games combines Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFTs to build a gaming economy on the Ethereum blockchain. The YGG DAO is an open-source protocol with rules enforced by smart contracts. It handles governance decisions, reward distribution, and coordination between players, sub-guilds, and the broader game ecosystem.
YGG is made up of multiple SubDAOs - smaller communities organized around a specific NFT game or geographic region. Each SubDAO has its own rules for managing activity and assets within its respective game. All NFTs and digital assets sit in the YGG Treasury, controlled by the community, which allocates them to each SubDAO as needed.
YGG Scholarships
YGG pioneered an NFT scholarship model to help new players access expensive gaming assets without upfront investment. Borrowing from a concept popularized in the Axie Infinity community, YGG allowed NFT owners to lend their gaming assets to new players (scholars), who would then split their in-game earnings with the lender and a guild manager. Smart contracts ensured scholars could only use the NFTs in-game; only the owner could trade or transfer them.
YGG scholars received not just NFT access but also training and guidance from community managers, lowering the barrier to entry for blockchain gaming. The program initially focused on Axie Infinity but extended to other P2E titles and virtual land holdings.
As the P2E market shifted after 2022, the original blanket scholarship model was phased out. YGG replaced it with the Guild Advancement Program (GAP), a merit-based questing system where players progress through seasons, earning NFTs and tokens by completing game-specific challenges rather than through fixed revenue splits.
SubDAOs
SubDAOs are the core organizational unit of YGG. Each is a localized community built around a specific game (e.g., League of Kingdoms) or region (e.g., Southeast Asia, Japan, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe). By October 2025, YGG operated 42+ regional and game-specific sub-guilds globally, with the Philippines guild alone reporting over 380,000 active players.
Each SubDAO manages its own game activities and assets under its own rules. Revenue flows to the sub-guild first, with sub-guilds retaining 70% of earnings and remitting 30% to the global YGG DAO. Each SubDAO has a community lead, a dedicated wallet, and its own SubDAO token. Token holders can vote on governance decisions within the SubDAO and receive a share of yields based on their contributions.
What Is YGG 2.0?
In Q3 2024, YGG formally announced a transition from a single gaming guild into a protocol layer supporting hundreds of independent onchain guilds. This framework, called YGG 2.0, was announced at the YGG Play Summit Manila in April 2025 and fully deployed by August 2025.
YGG 2.0 rests on three pillars:
Questing: Continuous community questing replaced the GAP seasonal model, allowing players to build onchain reputation across games.
Publishing: YGG Play, the guild's internal publishing arm, funds, markets, and distributes games to over 100,000 active questers. The first flagship title, LOL Land (a casual board game on Abstract L2), generated $4.5 million in lifetime revenue and attracted 25,000 players in its opening weekend. Profits from LOL Land funded a 135 ETH YGG buyback in August 2025.
Regional Guild Network: A SuperScholar Program 2.0 and expanded regional sub-guild structure (42+ guilds) gives YGG a franchise-like model for rapid global onboarding.
In October 2025, YGG launched the YGG Play Launchpad with the LOL token, a quest-based token launch platform designed to reward participation rather than speculation.
What Is the YGG Token?
YGG is an ERC-20 governance token with a total supply of 1 billion. In 2021, 25 million YGG were sold via an Initial DEX Offering (IDO) on SushiSwap. YGG set aside 45% of the total supply for gradual community distribution over four years. As of May 2026, approximately 530-733 million YGG are in circulation.
YGG holders can use the token to:
Submit and vote on governance proposals covering guild technology, products, token distribution, and overall DAO structure
Access exclusive content and community tiers within the YGG ecosystem
Participate in staking programs tied to guild revenue
Following the YGG 2.0 redesign in May 2025, YGG was redefined as a revenue-share asset. All treasury income is directed to token buybacks and burns, tying token value to the guild's actual revenue rather than emissions-based staking rewards. An $7.5 million ecosystem pool (50 million YGG tokens) was deployed in August 2025 to fund onchain guild growth.
YGG Vault
YGG's original vault system offered a different approach to yield than most DeFi staking platforms. Rather than fixed interest rates, each vault represented a reward program tied to a specific YGG activity - for example, one vault might distribute yields based on the performance of a scholarship program, while another rewarded stakers based on game-specific activity.
The original vault staking program ended on September 30, 2025, as part of the YGG 2.0 transition. The new tokenomics model replaced vault-based emissions with a revenue-aligned system: guild earnings flow directly to buybacks and burns rather than to stakers through separate vaults. This change was intended to make the YGG token's value more durably tied to real guild activity.
FAQ
What is Yield Guild Games?
Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a DAO that invests in blockchain gaming NFTs and coordinates a global network of players and guilds. It started as an NFT lending community for play-to-earn gamers in developing countries and has since evolved into a Web3 gaming protocol with 42+ regional sub-guilds, a game publishing arm (YGG Play), and an onchain questing and reputation system.
How does the YGG scholarship work?
YGG's original scholarship program allowed NFT owners to lend gaming assets to new players who couldn't afford them. Scholars would split their in-game earnings with the lender and guild manager. The program started with Axie Infinity and expanded to other games. By 2025, the blanket scholarship model was replaced by the Guild Advancement Program (GAP), a merit-based questing system where players earn NFTs and tokens by completing in-game challenges.
What is a SubDAO?
A SubDAO is a smaller community within the YGG DAO, organized around a specific game or geographic region. Each SubDAO manages its own activities and assets under its own rules. Sub-guilds keep 70% of earnings and send 30% to the main YGG DAO. SubDAO token holders can vote on local governance decisions and receive a share of yields.
What is the YGG token used for?
YGG is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 1 billion. It's used for governance voting, accessing exclusive community tiers, and participating in staking programs. Following the YGG 2.0 redesign in 2025, all treasury income is directed to YGG buybacks and burns, making the token a revenue-share asset tied to guild performance.
What is YGG 2.0?
YGG 2.0 is the strategic overhaul announced in 2024 and fully deployed by August 2025. It shifts YGG from a single gaming guild into a protocol layer supporting hundreds of independent onchain guilds. The three pillars are continuous community questing (onchain reputation), game publishing via the YGG Play arm (including the flagship game LOL Land), and a 42+ guild Regional Guild Network with a franchise-style expansion model.
Closing Thoughts
Yield Guild Games began as a practical solution to a specific problem: highly sought-after gaming NFTs were out of reach for players in emerging markets. The NFT scholarship model that YGG pioneered became one of the defining concepts of the P2E era. As the gaming landscape shifted post-2022, YGG adapted, moving from a single scholarship-focused guild to a layered protocol with publishing, questing, and a global network of independent sub-guilds. Whether this evolution translates into durable value for the YGG token depends on the growth of Web3 gaming adoption and the guild's ability to identify and support the next generation of viable blockchain games.
Further Reading
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