Yuga Labs Mega Auction: Moonbirds Transition to Mobile Gaming, Refocusing on BAYC and Otherside

As the NFT market continues to remain sluggish, the issuer of Bored Ape (BAYC), Yuga Labs, is accelerating its strategy adjustments. The company recently announced the sale of the IPs of Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities to the gaming startup Orange Cap Games. This symbolizes that the company is comprehensively consolidating its business landscape, focusing on its most representative core assets, "Bored Apes and the Otherside universe."

Moonbirds Asset Transfer: Yuga Labs' Second Wave Retreat

After selling CryptoPunks, which has a market value of over $1.2 billion, to a nonprofit foundation focused on digital art preservation a few weeks ago, Yuga Labs has also announced the sale of the IP for Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities to the gaming company Orange Cap Games. The official X account of Moonbirds has also confirmed the news this week.

Moonbirds has been acquired by @ocapgames. We are excited for our next chapter!

— Moonbirds (@moonbirds) May 30, 2025

This transaction also represents another asset restructuring action by Yuga Labs following the sale of the Meebits IP in February this year. Against the backdrop of a 95% decline in trading volume in the NFT market, this series of sales indicates that the company is undergoing a clear and profound strategic transformation.

( The Journey to the End of Art: The Legendary NFT CryptoPunks Changes Hands to NODE Foundation )

Orange Cap Games, which took over Moonbirds' IP, is a gaming startup that previously developed a Pudgy Penguins-themed physical and digital dual-platform card game. While community visibility is still low, the company also spelled out its goals in its statement:

Our mission is to breathe new life into classic IPs through thoughtfully designed experiences, reaching new fans and deepening the connections within the original community.

It should be added that "we will deploy elements of the Moonbirds IP on the mainnet, or on the L2 ApeChain being developed by Yuga Labs."

Yuga Labs Focuses on Core: BAYC and Otherside

After consecutively selling multiple IPs, Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano stated: "We are fully focused on Bored Apes, Otherside, and a special project." Clearly, the company is concentrating its resources on projects with the greatest brand value and long-term potential.

Solano also praised Orange Cap Games as the best candidate to take over Moonbirds:

They have created an excellent card collection game, and now with the IP of Moonbirds, this is the best choice to help them unleash their potential.

The NFT market is being reshuffled, and top IPs are hard to escape the winter. How can brands transform?

A report from DappRadar a few days ago showed that the overall trading volume of mainstream NFT series has decreased by as much as 95% year-on-year, and the lending market has shrunk by 97%. The market is no longer what it used to be. Even former blue-chip projects find it hard to resist the decline of the market.

Several brands, including Yuga Lab and Nike's digital collectibles division RTFKT, have chosen to cut off their tails to survive, reflecting a pragmatic attitude in the bear market. This also highlights that the market has entered a new stage of reshuffling and consolidation.

Additionally, there are teams seeking to break through traditional frameworks and open up new business models through "IP diversified applications," with Pudgy Penguins being a noteworthy case.

( Selling dolls and selling water, NFT licensed products Pudgy Penguins and Ape Water enter the retail industry )

Through the rise and fall of NFT, Fat Penguin has successfully transformed into a brand that develops in parallel with Web2 and Web3, from online games Pudgy World and Pengu Clash, dolls for young children to the issuance of its own token PENGU, successfully cohesive the community ecology through easy game experience, physical toys and viral spread, and expand a wider user base.

This strategy of "virtual characters × real-world channels" embodies the deep insights of the new generation of NFT teams into market realities. By creating touchpoints through gamification and physical scenarios, supplemented by NFTs as extensions of characters and assets, digital assets that were previously limited to collection now gain a more practical significance.

This article Yuga Labs Big Auction: Moonbirds Transfers to New Game Creation, Refocusing on BAYC and Otherside first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.