Everyone's talking about Yield Guild Games right now, but most people only know half the story. They hear about scholarships and play-to-earn, but miss the sophisticated organizational structure that actually makes it all work. YGG isn't just a gaming guild—it's a complex ecosystem of interconnected communities operating across the globe.
Here's what actually matters about how YGG built the largest Web3 gaming organization in the world.
The Scholar Foundation
Bottom line: everything starts with scholars. These are the players who receive borrowed NFT assets from YGG to play blockchain games without needing upfront capital. The scholarship program democratizes access to play-to-earn gaming by removing the biggest barrier—startup costs.
The model operates through straightforward economics. YGG acquires valuable in-game NFT assets from various blockchain games including characters, virtual land, equipment, and other items required for gameplay. The guild loans these assets to approved members who use them to play games and earn rewards.
Earnings get split according to predetermined terms enforced by smart contracts. Typically, the scholar keeps a significant portion as income for their gameplay. YGG takes a percentage to sustain operations and support the scholarship program. If external asset owners lend their NFTs through the platform, they receive a share for making their assets available.
During the Axie Infinity boom, YGG scholars in the Philippines earned what amounted to competitive salaries through consistent gameplay. These success stories built the foundation for everything YGG has become. By March 2022, the organization already had more than 20,000 scholars actively earning through the program.
The scholarship system isn't charity—it's a mutually beneficial economic model that creates value for all participants. Scholars gain earning opportunities, asset owners generate passive income, and YGG sustains its ecosystem through revenue share.
The SubDAO Revolution
Here's where most people miss the genius of YGG's structure. Managing tens of thousands of scholars across different games and regions would create chaos in a traditional organization. YGG solved this through subDAOs—smaller autonomous communities that exist within the bigger all-inclusive community of the parent DAO.
YGG first introduced the subDAO concept in July 2021 as a way to bring individual games into the ecosystem. Each subDAO is customized to focus on specific activities and assets of a particular game. They operate like specialized miniature economies that interact with the larger YGG economy.
Each game-focused subDAO is paired with a community lead who's passionate about that title, along with its own wallet and subDAO token. Token holders can vote on governance issues specific to that subDAO, allowing them to have a say in how it operates. This structure gives guild members the chance to run an organization within an organization.
For example, members of the same subDAO can plan quests or raids, decide on purchases of land or in-game items, and be rewarded with badges for ranking up to new levels within the guild. SubDAO members get rewarded according to their level and efforts, earning specific NFT achievements for their contributions.
The subDAOs have their own rules and conditions but still contribute earnings to the parent DAO. They can also borrow NFTs and other assets from the YGG Treasury to increase their level of contributions from gameplay. This creates a symbiotic relationship where success at the subDAO level strengthens the entire ecosystem.
Regional SubDAOs: The Global Strategy
In early 2022, YGG introduced a new dimension to the subDAO model—regional subDAOs focused on specific geographic markets. The first official regional subDAO was YGG SEA, which focuses exclusively on the Southeast Asian market. This expansion complicated the model but unlocked global scale without needing centralized global expertise.
Regional subDAOs maintain a high degree of autonomy. They're not subordinate franchises or branch offices. These subDAOs have their own treasuries, decide which games to collaborate with, and seek local talent to operate and establish new models tailored to their regions.
The benefit of the regional model lies in its unique structure, incentives, and ability to design programs for specific markets. Gaming economies work differently across geographies. What constitutes meaningful income in the Philippines differs dramatically from Europe or North America. Regional subDAOs can tailor scholarship terms, game selections, and support structures to local contexts.
Regional subDAOs use localized leadership teams that oversee delivery of language-specific support services and create tailored educational content. They establish strategic partnerships with locally regulated service providers. Given that most play-to-earn games aren't built with all global audiences in mind, regional subDAOs play a key role in onboarding players into titles they may not have heard of.
As of December 2025, YGG operates with 11 regional guild partners across Southeast Asia, Latin America, India, and other emerging markets. YGG's four major regional subDAOs have collectively raised $34 million, although part of the funding came from YGG itself in each case.
The Dual Structure Challenge
Most people overlook the complexity of YGG's dual-dimension structure. The ecosystem now operates with both game-specific subDAOs and regional subDAOs, creating a matrix organizational model that requires sophisticated coordination.
Different regions have different gaming habits, and each subDAO has its own focus. A game popular in Southeast Asia might not resonate in Latin America. Regional subDAOs handle this localization while game-specific subDAOs optimize strategies for individual titles regardless of geography.
This structure creates opportunities for investors to deploy capital directly in specific regions or specific games rather than only at the parent DAO level. It also creates challenges around ensuring the parent organization provides value to subDAOs. There's a risk of successful subDAOs trying to break free from YGG if they don't see sufficient benefit from the parent organization.
YGG addresses this by providing centralized services that individual subDAOs can't replicate efficiently—treasury management, high-level partnerships with game developers, technical infrastructure like the Guild Protocol, and brand recognition that opens doors in the Web3 gaming industry.
The Manager Layer
Between scholars and subDAOs sits another critical organizational layer—managers. Within game-specific communities like Axie Infinity, YGG has 19 managers which essentially represents 19 sub-guilds that have their own structure and leadership.
These managers are connected through the technology and assets YGG provides, and culturally aligned with what YGG stands for. But they operate independently with their own ways of doing things in different parts of the world. This distributed management structure allows YGG to scale without creating a massive centralized bureaucracy.
Managers handle day-to-day scholar support, answer questions, provide gameplay guidance, track earnings, and ensure smooth operations within their smaller communities. They're the connective tissue between the macro vision of subDAOs and the micro reality of individual scholars grinding through games daily.
The manager role creates career paths within the YGG ecosystem. Successful scholars can transition to management positions, leveraging their gameplay expertise and community knowledge to support newer members. This internal mobility strengthens retention and builds institutional knowledge.
The Treasury: The Economic Engine
At the center of the entire ecosystem sits the YGG Treasury, which manages all NFTs and digital assets on the platform under community control. The treasury functions as the economic engine powering scholarships, subDAO operations, and ecosystem growth.
YGG invests in a diverse basket of NFT games and infrastructure projects. These investments include virtual real estate, in-game characters, equipment, land, and other assets with value across multiple blockchain games. The diversity creates resilience against individual game failures.
Financial reports from YGG's early days showed the organization held NFT assets valued at approximately $10.2 million. Current holdings are significantly more diversified following years of strategic acquisitions and partnerships with over 80 blockchain games and infrastructure projects.
The treasury also functions as a lending pool. SubDAOs can borrow NFTs and other assets from the YGG Treasury to increase their operations and earning potential. This capital efficiency means expensive assets get utilized across multiple communities rather than sitting idle.
YGG's token buyback program reinforces treasury strength. The organization used LOL Land profits to repurchase $518,000 worth of tokens in August 2025, following a $1 million buyback earlier in the year. That's $1.5 million in buybacks during 2025 alone, using game revenue to strengthen fundamentals.
The Governance Layer
YGG operates as a true decentralized autonomous organization where major decisions get voted on by token holders rather than imposed top-down by executives. The governance structure ensures the organization serves member interests across all ecosystem layers.
The YGG token serves as the governance instrument, granting holders voting rights proportional to their holdings. Major choices about treasury allocation, new game partnerships, scholarship program changes, and ecosystem development all go through community voting.
SubDAOs replicate this governance model at their level. Each subDAO has its own token that grants voting rights on subDAO-specific decisions. This nested governance structure allows localized decision-making while maintaining alignment with the parent DAO's overall direction.
The governance system empowers participants at every level. Scholars can propose improvements to scholarship terms. SubDAO members can vote on which games to prioritize. Token holders can shape the entire ecosystem's strategic direction. This democratic approach creates accountability and ensures responsiveness to community needs.
Up to 45% of all YGG tokens have been designated for distribution among community members, ensuring voting power stays distributed rather than concentrated with founders and early investors.
The Guild Protocol: Technical Infrastructure
YGG didn't just create organizational structures—they built technical infrastructure to support them. The Guild Protocol introduced modular libraries enabling guilds to manage memberships, assets, and quests onchain.
This infrastructure allows permissionless guild creation with ERC-20 compliant multi-sig wallets and achievement NFTs. The standardized approach reduces friction for game developers to integrate YGG communities into their titles without building custom solutions.
Non-transferable Guild Badge NFTs serve as identity verification within the ecosystem. These badges prove membership and track achievements across multiple games and platforms. The soulbound nature means they can't be transferred or sold, ensuring they represent genuine participation rather than purchased status.
Automated reward distribution via treasury smart contracts ensures transparent, timely payments. Cross-game reputation tracking using soulbound tokens means achievements in one title contribute to overall standing within the YGG ecosystem. This portable identity creates continuity as gamers jump between different titles.
The protocol expansion planned for 2026 aims to broaden beyond gaming into content creation and real-world coordination, demonstrating YGG's vision for the infrastructure as a foundation for decentralized organization generally, not just gaming guilds.
The Onchain Guilds Network
Beyond the major regional and game-specific subDAOs, YGG's ecosystem includes 105 Onchain Guilds operating within the broader network. These smaller guilds represent the grassroots level of community organization.
Onchain Guilds might focus on niche games, specific strategies within popular titles, regional micro-communities, or specialized activities like tournament competition. They operate with the support and infrastructure provided by YGG but maintain independence in their day-to-day operations.
This guild network creates a mesh topology where multiple pathways connect players to opportunities. A scholar might participate in their regional subDAO, join an Onchain Guild focused on their favorite game, and contribute to a tournament guild all simultaneously.
The diversity of guilds ensures that regardless of your gaming preferences, skill level, geographic location, or time availability, there's a community within YGG that fits your needs. This inclusivity drives the ecosystem's growth and retention.
The Evolution to YGG Play
YGG recently evolved beyond pure guild operations by launching YGG Play, a publishing arm that transforms the organization from community to comprehensive gaming platform. This expansion represents the natural evolution of an ecosystem that started with scholarships.
YGG Play offers developers go-to-market strategy, creator-led marketing, user acquisition, token launches, and smart contract-enforced revenue sharing. The publishing operation leverages YGG's existing community infrastructure while creating new revenue streams.
The debut published title LOL Land demonstrates the model's potential with $4.5 million in revenue since launching in May 2025 and over 630,000 monthly users. The YGG Play Launchpad launched in October 2025, combining game discovery, token launches, and reward systems into one hub.
This publishing evolution means YGG now operates across the full value chain—from individual scholars playing games, through subDAOs optimizing specific titles and regions, to the parent organization publishing and distributing games directly.
The Community Treasury and Rewards
The YGG community treasury represents 45% of total token allocation, one of the highest community allocations in the Web3 gaming space. This treasury funds scholarships, quest rewards, subDAO grants, and ecosystem development initiatives.
Community members earn YGG tokens through multiple avenues including scholarship gameplay, quest completion, tournament participation, content creation, community management, and governance participation. The Guild Advancement Program alone has launched over 750 quests across 29 game partners with more than 12,000 participants.
The reward system creates a meritocracy where contributions at every level get recognized and compensated. Whether you're a scholar grinding through games, a manager supporting community members, a subDAO leader organizing regional activities, or a governance participant shaping strategic decisions, there are pathways to earning.
This comprehensive reward structure aligns incentives across the entire ecosystem. Success at the scholar level feeds into subDAO success, which strengthens the parent DAO, which enables better support for scholars. The flywheel effect accelerates as the ecosystem matures.
The Challenges and Solutions
Managing this complex organizational structure presents real challenges. Coordinating effectively across thousands of scholars, hundreds of managers, dozens of subDAOs, and 11 regional organizations requires sophisticated systems and strong culture.
YGG addresses coordination challenges through clear governance structures, standardized technical infrastructure via the Guild Protocol, regular community communication through Discord and social channels, and nested decision-making that keeps choices at the appropriate organizational level.
The risk of subDAOs breaking away gets managed by ensuring the parent DAO provides irreplaceable value—high-level partnerships that individual guilds can't access, treasury resources that enable asset borrowing, technical infrastructure that reduces operational overhead, and brand recognition that opens doors.
YGG also adapted its strategy based on market realities. The transition from seasonal Guild Advancement Programs to continuous engagement opportunities shows strategic flexibility. The emphasis shift from quantity of participants to quality of engagement and skill-based rewards reflects ecosystem maturation.
The YGG ecosystem operates as a sophisticated multi-layered organization that starts with individual scholars and extends through managers, Onchain Guilds, game-specific subDAOs, regional subDAOs, the parent DAO, and now the YGG Play publishing arm. Each layer serves specific functions while contributing to overall ecosystem strength.
The scholarship program remains the foundation, providing earning opportunities for thousands of players who couldn't otherwise afford play-to-earn gaming. SubDAOs unlock global scale through localized operations and game-specific optimization. The Guild Protocol provides technical infrastructure that standardizes operations. The treasury manages assets and funds expansion.
With 11 regional guild partners, 105 Onchain Guilds, partnerships across over 80 games, and now publishing capabilities through YGG Play, the ecosystem represents the most comprehensive approach to Web3 gaming organization that exists today.
The nested governance structure ensures decision-making happens at appropriate levels. The diversified treasury creates resilience against individual game failures. The technical infrastructure reduces friction for both participants and developers. The community-first token allocation aligns incentives across all stakeholders.
Web3 gaming needs organizational models that scale globally while maintaining local relevance, that coordinate thousands of participants without centralized control, and that create sustainable economics beyond speculation. YGG built exactly that through its scholar-to-subDAO ecosystem architecture.
Understanding YGG means understanding it's not just one thing—it's an interconnected network of communities, governance structures, economic systems, and technical infrastructure all working together. That complexity is precisely what makes it work at scale where simpler models fail.
