Yield Guild Games, more commonly abbreviated as YGG, began as a small group of friends based in the Philippines and has since become the leading gaming guild within web3. At the center of it all is YGG’s own cryptocurrency, which is more than just a storehouse of value because it powers thousands of players, scholars, managers, and communities.
It begins with something simple. From 2021, some gamers realized that play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity were capable of making a difference, particularly in regions with low-paying mainstream employment. The group began to loan out Axies in play-to-earn gaming communities, nicknamed “scholars” who couldn't initially acquire Axies on their own. The scholars would play and share profits with a percentage from the gaming guild. From a small start with a couple of Axies, they soon reached an armada of NFTs for dozens of games. Nowadays, YGG manages assets for more than 80 blockchain games and services tens of thousands of gamers worldwide.
All these operations are made possible with the help of the YGG token. When a person locks in stakes for YGG, they receive a voice regarding what new games they should enter as guilds, which scholarship they should fund, and how they should allocate money from the treasury. It’s truly a form of governance and not what passes for governance in some projects, which holds very little value if a whale doesn’t agree. Every year, they get a vote, and then the guild aligns with that. That’s unheard of on the blockchain and unheard of in gaming.
Within the gaming itself, there are actual jobs within YGG. Many sub-DAOs within the guild align with it. The best scholars receive additional reward money in form of additional YGG on top of regular game reward money. The community managers get payment within YGG for expanding the gaming universe. The coach who trains new scholars gets money within YGG. Those who participate within quests within partnered gaming can receive money within YGG.
By and large, it is perhaps the vault system that represents the most tangible evidence of a lasting structure within YGG. When the guild acquires gaming tokens and NFTs, a significant percentage of these rewards goes into a treasury. Token holders are then given the opportunity to stake their YGG and receive a share of these rewards, which – and here’s an important note – are paid out in ETH and stablecoins, not YGG. So even when bear markets hit and gaming tokens collapse in value, there’s still reward for these people.
Yet, here’s what sets YGG apart from most gaming tokens with regards to scale and focus. The guild isn’t working on developing a game of its own yet. It’s on every entertaining and successful play-to-earn and GameFi game out there. From Ronin, Polygon, Solana, Base, Immutable, and Arbitrum, and so on — they’re there early, buying assets, developing communities, and attracting more players. It’s really about network effects here. Game developers are actually knocking on YGG’s doors because once they get the guild on board, they have thousands and thousands of active daily subscribers on day one.
The numbers speak louder than any form of marketing. At its peak towards the end of 2021, the collective amount earned per month by YGG scholars stood at millions. Even during the crypto winter that lasted from 2022 to 2024, the guild continued to expand its treasury and introduce more titles. As of 2025, the reach extends from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Discord servers never sleep as there is someone somewhere who keeps grinding, coaching, and plotting.
Looking forward, it’s hard not to find the roadmap more realistic than dreaming big. More sub-DAOs controlled by local leaders. Integrations with new L2s. Utilities that enable smaller guilds to tap into YGG infrastructure. Even lending protocols for guilds so money goes where the best scholarship opportunities exist at all times. The token is at the center of it all. Governance, reward, staking, and soon likely identity across games.
As a player, it still holds the same promise it made years ago: you don’t have to have money to start making money on a web3 game; you need only time and effort. It has an excellent guild with NFTs that trains you and shares earnings.
As a holder, it provides you with actual utility and actual yield, and it continues to grow as thousands of scholars play every single day. Among so many hype coins that have short lifespans, YGG’s project shows that they have created something that very much represents the future of gaming communities online and that it’s a huge global cooperative with a ‘token that isn’t just a logo — it’s the membership card, the vote, and the paycheck.’
That’s why, even years after Axie was first lent out for the very first time, YGG still continues to be the biggest and most active gaming guild within crypto. Gaming cultures change, blockchain changes, and metas change. But the token and its community just continue.
