Yield Guild Games Announces Strategic Partnership with Blockchain Gaming Hub, Iskra
Yield Guild Games (YGG) has announced it will be introducing its questing systems to Iskra, a web3 gaming hub and launchpad with over 4 million registered wallets and 100,000 monthly active users (MAU). Backed by the likes of LINE, Kakao, Wemade and Netmarble, Iskra brings together gamers and game studios, enabling players to explore high-quality blockchain games and create their own communities. The collaboration between Iskra and YGG aims to expand the web3 gaming ecosystem by creating engaging quests that deliver rewarding experiences within Iskra-partnered games.
As part of this partnership, YGG and Iskra have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), that establishes a collaborative relationship between the two parties. This includes conducting joint marketing campaigns via Discord events and AMAs, as well as increasing user participation through YGG’s questing systems. Having created quests for leading web3 games such as Pixels, Big Time and My Pet Hooligan since July 2022, YGG has completed four seasons of the Guild Advancement Program (GAP), which acknowledges the value that members bring to the guild across a range of games.
“We understand how significant the Southeast Asian market is for web3 adoption and believe that the Iskra platform will play a significant role in onboarding gamers and developers alike. This partnership marks an important step for web3 gaming, as we get to show how effective the questing model is through Iskra’s growing platform of web3 titles. We look forward to creating engaging quests that will ensure player retention, build their on-chain reputation and contribute towards a shared vision for the ecosystem,” said YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon.
YGG has also engaged in a YGG/ISK token swap, enabling the guild to purchase assets and pay for services in the Iskra ecosystem, as well as participate in governance through the Iskra DAO on behalf of the YGG community. Additionally, the guild will be a Pioneer NFT holder to be onboarded to the Iskra Community Tier System, a ranking system that compensates community members based on their contribution to the platform.
Quest participants will be able to acquire achievements as soulbound NFTs to build their reputation within YGG and in-game assets from titles such as ClashMon: Ignition, Norma in Metaland, Three Kingdoms Multiverse and WOW Casino.
In 2023, YGG Pilipinas, the Philippine entity of YGG providing support and marketing services to the guild in the Philippines, ran a successful pre-launch marketing campaign with Iskra for Norma in Metaland. The campaign resulted in over 5,000 sign-ups and 1,500 daily active users (DAU) in the game, reaching more than 1.3 million users.
“We are pleased to enter into this collaboration to concentrate our strengths on activating Iskra’s game and community economy, as well as building a successful web3 experience for YGG members. In particular, we consider this partnership highly meaningful, involving concrete and tightly integrated cooperation such as PNFT holdings and token swaps. We plan to collaborate wholeheartedly on this foundation to craft powerful success narratives,” said Iskra CEO Eugene Lee.
Founded in 2021, Iskra has raised over US$40 million in seed investments to date. The platform has also partnered with Indonesia’s largest game developer, Agate, and entered into a strategic partnership with Vietnam’s leading blockchain company, Verichains, and Coinbase for the launch of its Ethereum Layer 2 project, Base.
The team behind Iskra brings decades of combined experience and specialized expertise in the gaming industry, building game networks for global brands such as Disney, Nexon, Netmarble, Tencent and Hangame.
Eugene Lee, CEO of Iskra, has successfully launched two blockchain projects along with two startups and one business exit. Since 2016, he has served as a technical executive in a project called Icon, which was dubbed the “Korean Ethereum.” Eugene helped create the LINE LINK blockchain project (rebranded to Finschia thereafter), which is the blockchain product of LINE, a leading messaging platform in Asia.
Ben Colayco, Chief Business Officer at Iskra, pioneered online games in South America, Southeast Asia and India through Level Up!, an online video game publisher for emerging markets in 2002. After a decade, Level Up! expanded to Manila, Mumbai, São Paulo and Bogota, becoming a subsidiary of Naspers from South Africa, and subsequently Tencent Holdings Ltd. from China. The company joins a portfolio of brands that are responsible for some of the most played online games in the world.
Bob Kim, SVP at Iskra, oversees Iskra’s gaming business, supporting the onboarding of high-quality and sustainable games to the Iskra platform. With more than 20 years of experience in the gaming industry, he has served as an executive at globally renowned game companies such as Netmarble and Hangame, a popular South Korean online game portal. Bob also played a key role in growing the web board game business at Hangame and brings experience in M&A exits, having successfully led a social casino game company to an exit with a Korean-listed company after three years of founding it.
Spike Ryu, COO at Iskra, is responsible for Iskra’s platform business and platform service planning. As the head of global service development for the hit RPG game MapleStory, he successfully serviced games in over 60 countries around the world. He also operated global game services and corporations in the United States such as KOG-LU Games USA, Disney Interactive, and LINE EA. At LINE Plus, he oversaw the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) project for the Bank of Korea.
Create your YGG profile on the YGG dapp to participate in Iskra quests at launch.
For more information on Iskra, check out their website, whitepaper, and X. Also check out YGG’s Discord and follow us on X for future updates.
