YGG Media Roundup — August 2021
The month of August has been huge for YGG, with our news and announcements making headlines around the world. Here, we recap the most noteworthy media coverage for YGG in top publications including TechCrunch, Business Insider, VentureBeat, Tech In Asia, Coindesk, and more.
Gaming as a Tool of Economic Empowerment
Nathaniel Whittemore, The Breakdown, CoinDesk
This episode of The Breakdown was inspired by an op-ed written by YGG co-founder, Beryl Li, that demonstrates how play-to-earn is becoming an empowering model for financial inclusion.
In his podcast, Nathaniel reads Beryl’s piece aloud, emphasizing how the play-to-earn phenomenon is being driven by the community and the people that need these solutions the most, rather than any centralized authority.
FTX Strikes Deal With Yield Guild Games to Sponsor Axie Infinity Players
The Hash, CoinDesk TV
In this episode, the hosts of CoinDesk TV discuss FTX’s support for the YGG Sponsor-A-Scholar program (starts at 24:26), highlighting how Axie has become more than just a game for many people living in developing countries.
FTX Sponsors Play-to-Earn ‘Scholars’ in Ethereum Game Axie Infinity
Andrew Hayward, Decrypt
Decrypt’s Senior Writer Andrew Hayward explains how the high cost of NFTs is hindering new players from getting started with play-to-earn. Through the Sponsor-A-Scholar partnership with YGG, FTX strives to support these growing play-to-earn communities and help lower the barrier to entry.
In the article, Hayward notes that the team at FTX were inspired the short film, Play-to-Earn: NFT Gaming in the Philippines, as a key influencing factor in their decision to support the Sponsor-A-Scholar program.
Yield Guild Games establece alianza con exchange FTX para ayudar a jugadores
Fernando Quirós, CoinTelegraph Español (LATAM)
Writer and DeFi enthusiast, Fernando Quirós, reinforces how important it is to encourage education about cryptocurrencies through play-to-earn games in order to create new financial opportunities.
FTX จับมือกับ Yield Guild Games เพื่อสนับสนุนผู้เล่น Axie Infinity ในประเทศกำลังพัฒนา
Bitcoin Addict (Thailand)
Bitcoin Addict is a leading crypto media companies in Thailand. The article points out FTX’s generosity in covering the necessary costs to provide 137 new YGG scholars the chance to start earning by playing Axie Infinity.
Those funded by FTX include 81 players from the Philippines, 25 from Indonesia, 10 from India, 15 from Latin America, and 6 from Brazil.
Jugadores se unen en gremios para invertir en NFT
José Antonio Rivera, El Economista (LATAM)
José Antonio is a market analyst for El Economista, a reputable Spanish newspaper covering financial and business affairs. José highlights the impact of play-to-earn games in places where high rates of unemployment have burdened families. He also points out how NFT gamers are allowed to trade their digital assets, which is in contrast to traditional games.
3 problems that might hinder Axie Infinity’s quest for game immortality
Derek Lim, Tech In Asia
Tech Editor for Tech in Asia, Derek Lim, wrote a 3-part series on Axie Infinity exploring some criticisms of the game as it begins to scale to millions of users. Lim also mused on how Axie could continue to be relevant, as more games start to adapt to this new model of gaming. YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon’s was quoted in response to these and other topics.
The DeanBeat: Blockchain gaming companies raised $476M in the first half of 2021
Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat
Dean is the lead writer for GamesBeat, the gaming division of VentureBeat. In this article, he reports on the amount of funding received by blockchain gaming companies over the first half of 2021.
Dean also makes mention of some new business models emerging from the sector, such as YGG’s Sponsor-A-Scholar program, which allows benefactors to contribute funds to help cover the cost of onboarding new players.
Cryptomonnaie : des petits monstres qui filent des jetons
Lucie Lequier, Libération
Libération, popularly known as Libé, is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre. In this article, journalist Lucie Lequier talks about the booming play-to-earn economy in Southeast Asia and the opportunities it provides. The article appeared as a double-page spread, in print.
The Erica Show — Episode 37 — Gabby Dizon, Cofounder of Yield Guild Games
Erica Kang, The Erica Show / Krypto Seoul
Gabby was interviewed by Erica Kang, founder and CEO of KryptoSeoul, a team dedicated to crypto community building in South Korea. This interview provides insight into Gabby’s predictions for the NFT space, new NFT games/platforms, and the long-term goals of Yield Guild Games.
Workers in the Global South are making a living laying the blockchain game Axie Infinity
Vittoria Elliott, Rest of World
Rest of World is an international nonprofit journalism organization. The publication documents what happens when technology, culture and the human experience collide, in places that are typically overlooked and underestimated. YGG co-founder Beryl Li was interviewed for this article, which explores the experience of some individuals in the Philippines and Venezuela who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, and who found convenience and an alternative stable income in Axie Infinity.
Axie Infinity playfully rewrites gig work in SE Asia
Jon Russell, The Ken
The Ken is a media outlet covering business and tech stories in India and Southeast Asia. “Unlike the financial arms of Grab and Gojek, YGG would opt for DeFi services rather than traditional banking options,” explained Jon Russell, The Ken’s Southeast Asia editor, who spoke with YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon. Russell spotlights the shift in power to organizations like YGG that are encouraging people to apply for jobs in decentralized communities surrounding Axie Infinity as well as other play-to-earn games.
The Hustle Behind Yield Guild Games
Ronster Baetiong, Hustleshare Podcast
The Hustleshare podcast, hosted by Ronster Baetiong, interviews founders and hustlers from all over the world. With Gabby, Beryl and Ronster hailing from the Philippine start-up scene, they discuss their entrepreneurial journeys and how they eventually came to establish Yield Guild Games. They also speak about the YGG token sale that raised $12.5 million in 31 seconds and how YGG became the first Filipino-led blockchain startup backed by a16z.
Arianna Simpson of a16z on Yield Guild Games, the firm’s newest bet on crypto + gaming
Connie Loizos, TechCrunch
In her conversation with a16z general partner Arianna Simpson, Connie learns how the world’s biggest crypto VC discovered YGG and began exploring NFT-based games like Zed Run. She also talks about the need to support games that are working to deliver ownership of in-game assets to the players.
A16z’s first Philippine bet is shaking up blockchain gaming
Jum Balea, Tech in Asia
Tech in Asia’s Jum Balea explains the mechanics of play-to-earn and how YGG is fueling the movement by lending NFT assets to people who want to get started in this burgeoning digital economy but don’t have the startup capital. Jum also breaks down YGG’s assets and treasury to demonstrate how the guild provides value to its community members.
“In a way, we’re like an early-stage fund. But we buy NFTs and tokens, we don’t buy equity,” Dizon explains.
How did Filipino-led blockchain startup Yield Guild Games sell $12.5M of its public crypto in just 30 seconds?
Daniel Ansher, Pinoy Tech Club
This article covers the Philippines’ economic struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic, how Axie Infinity became a source of hope in a difficult time, and how play-to-earn found its fit among rural Filipino communities.
Silicon Valley firms bet on Pinoy gaming startup
Miguel Camus, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer is a leading news print and website in the Philippines. This article reiterates how the a16z investment demonstrates that one of the world’s most powerful VCs wants to stand with YGG at the forefront of a new job market that is gaining serious traction in the Philippines.
How a crypto startup raised $12.5 million in 31 seconds and won over Andreessen Horowitz
Margaux MacColl, Business Insider
In her article, Margaux reveals what happened in the hours immediately after YGG’s $12.5 million token sale that sold out in 31 seconds.
Cách một startup huy động được 12,5 triệu USD trong 31 giây
Phuc Thinh, Zing News
The YGG funding news also reached one of Vietnam’s top news sites, Zing News, which had 86.69M monthly visitors in July.
“I Realized We Could Scale Play-to-Earn to Impact Thousands, Hopefully Millions of Lives:” YGG’s Gabby Dizon
The Defiant Podcast, Camila Russo
Camila Russo, founder of The Defiant and author of the book “The Infinite Machine” speaks to Gabby Dizon about how he started YGG and his vision to positively impact millions of lives through play-to-earn.
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