Yield Guild Games cuts 35 staff, shuts game publisher to focus on AI
Yield Guild Games is shutting down its crypto game publishing arm, YGG Play, and laying off 35 employees. The company said a prolonged crypto downturn and weak game publishing market made the unit unsustainable, and a major Oct. 10 market crash worsened retail sentiment. YGG Play’s website, web app, rewards site, and third-party game marketing will be closed, while some Web3 games will continue. The browser game LOL Land and puzzle game Waifu Sweeper will be taken down. The company is pivoting toward the AI data economy, starting with gaming datasets generated by its community to help train AI models. It said the restructure extends its operating runway to four years and it held $20.6 million in treasury at the end of Q1. The move comes amid more than 5,000 crypto-industry layoffs this year, as firms cut costs and redirect resources toward AI.
