Brothers, recently I've been revisiting YGG (Yield Guild Games). To be honest, if you still think it's just the 'guild that rents game accounts for gold' from 2021, your understanding really needs to be updated. In the past few days, I have sorted through its new moves, direction, and the entire layout, and found that this guy has long secretly changed tracks - what it is doing now is not the old gold farming routine, but quietly building a player ecosystem infrastructure on a chain.
No longer a 'guild', but an 'ecological engine'
YGG became popular initially because it solved the problem of 'players without money to buy NFTs can still participate in gold farming.' But now that GameFi has cooled down like this, the pure gold farming model is no longer viable. YGG is aware of this, so you can see the two areas it is currently focusing on: YGG Play and SubDAO regional autonomy.
YGG Play is essentially a 'chain game publishing + operation platform'. What is the biggest headache for game project teams now? It's not about creating games, it's that once the game is finished, no one plays it! The traditional method of 'Twitter promotion + Discord recruitment + airdrops' has already failed; all that comes are those looking to exploit the system, and they can't retain real players. What YGG Play does is package the real player network it has cultivated and sell it as a service to project teams—from game testing, economic model design, cold starts, to later community operations and incentive distribution, it helps you handle everything in one go. This is equivalent to YGG transforming from a 'contractor' to a 'developer service provider', earning money from ecosystem services, which is far more stable than relying solely on gold farming commissions.
Speaking of SubDAOs (such as YGG SEA, YGG Japan, and other regional sub-guilds), this strategy is quite clever. By breaking the guilds down by region, local teams can manage local players, organize offline activities, engage in localized collaborations, and even conduct skills training. Especially in Southeast Asia, YGG SEA has already gathered over 20,000 active learners on its own and can independently engage in game collaborations—this is no longer something that can be described as just a 'guild'; it resembles a decentralized player operation network.
Conducting training offline, building reputation on-chain: Retaining players relies on these two tactics.
This year, at the YGG Play Summit held in Manila, I saw reports of a massive turnout. But the most interesting part was not just the crowd; they specifically organized a 'Skill District'—this was not just teaching you how to make money through gold farming, but how to create content, manage operations, and learn Web3 skills. This is quite subtle: it no longer relies solely on 'playing games to earn money' to attract you but tells you that 'you can also learn things, enhance your skills, and even find job opportunities here'. This extends the value of the guild from 'money' to 'personal growth', creating a level of engagement that is completely different.
An even bolder move is the on-chain reputation system (Guild Protocol) it is building. Simply put, it records everything you have done in the YGG ecosystem—such as participating in activities, completing tasks, and contributing to games—on-chain through SBT (Soulbound Tokens). Once this matures, it will become the 'player resume' of future Web3 games. Wherever you go in a game, your history, skills, and reputation can be verified. For players, the time you spend truly becomes a portable asset; for games, it's easy to see who the experienced players are and who are merely exploiting the system. If this really works, it will be a powerful weapon.
Tokens, Treasury, and Risks: A realistic perspective.
Of course, when talking about YGG, one cannot avoid its tokens. The current price fluctuates between $0.1 and $0.15, with a circulation of about 67% and a total supply of 1 billion tokens. The trend belongs to the type that 'doesn't drop much but also doesn't spike wildly'; it's considered stable in GameFi, but don't expect it to suddenly surge.
In terms of the treasury, there is a noteworthy Ecosystem Pool with 50 million tokens. This thing serves as ecological fuel, specifically used to incentivize new games, collaborative projects, and active participants. In the short term, it may increase selling pressure, but in the long run, without these incentives, the ecosystem simply won't function. YGG is using money to buy time and activity.
Risks also need to be clarified:
Industry Beta Risk: GameFi as a whole has not yet warmed up, and YGG's efforts depend on the overall market trends.
Token Release Pressure: In the future, there will still be gradual token unlocks, and structural selling pressure will continue to exist.
But its advantages are also obvious:
Real Player Network: This data is not gathered through airdrops; it comes from substantial offline activities and training.
No longer relying on gold farming to survive: Service issuance, skills training, on-chain reputation... the potential for these businesses is much greater than purely taking commissions.
Summary: Don't view it with old perspectives.
For myself, I currently view YGG not so much as a 'speculative asset' but as a fundamental infrastructure node within the GameFi sector. By studying it, you can feel the chain game industry shifting from 'brutal gold farming' to a deeper logic of 'player identity + skills + ecosystem services'. Participating in it doesn't mean you have to hoard tokens; instead, you can use its CreatorPad and community tasks to learn while earning some tokens and keeping an eye on the ecological trends.
In conclusion, YGG is no longer that 'account rental guild'. What it is doing now is attempting to turn 'playing games' into 'on-chain identity construction', upgrading 'gold farming' into a 'skills economy'. In the future, you may indirectly use YGG's player network, reputation system, or distribution channels in any Web3 game. If this approach truly succeeds, its ceiling will definitely exceed that of a mere 'game guild'.
**In short: YGG is quietly transforming, while many people have yet to catch up.
@Yield Guild Games #YGGPlay $YGG
