Yield Guild Games shuts down YGG Play, lays off 35 employees in pivot to AI data economy

Yield Guild Kills Crypto Game Publishing Arm, Lays Off 35 in AI Pivot

YGG is pivoting to the AI data economy, aiming to supply gaming-derived behavioral datasets for AI training. Yield Guild Games, a blockchain-based gaming organization, announced Monday that it is shutting down YGG Play, its publishing arm for crypto-infused casual games, citing the crypto market downturn alongside broader video game industry struggles. The unit's closure marks a retreat from a strategy the Web3 company had championed as recently as this year: building "casual degen" games -- bite-sized titles laced with crypto incentives -- for crypto enthusiasts who don't consider themselves traditional gamers. YGG Play launched its own original game LOL Land as a proof of concept and had signed nine additional games, partnered with the Pudgy Penguins NFT brand, and debuted a token launchpad, reporting more than $9 million in lifetime revenue through the first quarter of 2026. However, the broader crypto gaming industry has struggled in recent years, with numerous prominent blockchain-based games shutting down since early last year and investors steering clear of crypto game studios. And that's not all: crypto prices have also plummeted since late last year, with Bitcoin down nearly 50% from its October peak, while the traditional video game industry has faced mass layoffs -- including from Xbox on Monday. Given the current market environment, the team said it made the decision to shutter the publishing division, cut 35 jobs as a result, and give Yield Guild more runway as it pursues an AI-driven pivot. "Sunsetting YGG Play is a heavy decision, but it is a market decision, not a product decision," said Yield Guild co-founder Gabby Dizon, in a statement. "I am proud of what this team achieved under such tough conditions, and what they built is a testament to their talent and dedication. Although this business unit is sunsetting, YGG's vision and mission hasn't changed. We are still fully dedicated to using technology to open up new economic opportunities for people globally." The YGG Play website, its launchpad, and games including LOL Land and Waifu Sweeper will be retired by August 1. Two of the games on the platform, Gigachatbat and Ragnarok Breaker, will continue operating under their original developers, following a transition. YGG said it will redirect its resources toward supplying data for artificial intelligence training, wagering that video game players' decision-making can generate valuable behavioral datasets for AI developers. The company reported a treasury of $20.6 million worth of assets as of Q1, which it said should extend its operating runway to four years following the restructuring. Yield Guild Games was one of the standout companies of the 2021 play-to-earn boom, as a prominent organization that supported the growth of monster-battling game Axie Infinity via a "scholarship" program -- a profit-sharing program that lent out NFT assets to players in exchange for a cut of their in-game token earnings. Yield Guild secured funding from VC giant Andreessen Horowitz in August 2021 amid the crypto gaming surge. After Axie Infinity's economic collapse in 2022 and the broader decline of the play-to-earn movement, Yield Guild pivoted in 2024 into launching blockchain infrastructure for guilds across various crypto games, before launching YGG Play in 2025. Yield Guild's YGG token is up about 4% on the day at a recent price of $0.023, but has fallen about 84% in the last year. It remains down 99.8% from its peak price of $11.17 set in 2021.

YGG Cuts Game Publishing Arm, Lays Off 35 Staff

Yield Guild Games said tough crypto and video game market conditions mean its YGG Play business is no longer commercially sustainable. Crypto gaming company Yield Guild Games says it has shut down its crypto game publishing arm, YGG Play, and will instead focus on feeding data to artificial intelligence. Yield Guild Games said Monday that it would also lay off 35 employees, adding that a prolonged crypto market downturn and a "similarly brutal" video game publishing market meant YGG Play "cannot be commercially sustainable." It said a major market crash on Oct. 10 "fundamentally altered retail market psychology, and we do not expect the crypto consumer market or the Web3 games publishing market to recover sufficiently in the near term." The layoffs add to the more than 5,000 jobs that crypto companies have cut this year, with many citing a crypto market slump and a refocus toward opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. "Sunsetting YGG Play is a heavy decision, but it is a market decision, not a product decision," Yield Guild Games co-founder Gabby Dizon said. "I am proud of what this team achieved under such tough conditions." Source: Yield Guild Games Yield Guild Games said it would be closing YGG Play's website, its web app that launched games and its community-focused rewards site. It would also end all marketing support for third-party games. The company's board game-style browser game LOL Land and its puzzle game Waifu Sweeper would also be taken down. The Web3 versions of the baseball game GIGACHADBAT and the battle game Ragnarok Breaker would continue as normal. The company said sunsetting YGG Play and its restructure would extend its operating runway to four years, adding it had $20.6 million in its treasury as of the end of the first quarter. Yield Guild pivots to AI data Yield Guild Games said it would refocus its resources "into the AI data economy" to provide information that can be used to train AI models. It will initially create a pipeline for gaming datasets, and said its global community "can generate these behavioral datasets just by playing." The company said it was "an organic next step" and the data would help AI networks understand "human irrationality and emergent behavior," as video game players "constantly make complex, split-second decisions." More than 5,000 crypto layoffs in 2026 The crypto industry has cut over 5,000 jobs so far this year, with Block Inc. undertaking the largest round of layoffs in February by cutting 4,000 staff, or about half its workforce at the time. Last month, crypto infrastructure company BitGo laid off 15% of its staff, an estimated 90 people, while Robinhood cut 10% of its workforce. Earlier in the year, Kraken laid off 150 workers, and Coinbase cut 700 employees. Gemini also laid off 200 employees in February and Crypto.com cut about 180 staff a month later, both citing the use of AI.