You could say that Yuga Labs’ Dookey Dash was a hit. At least, that’s what the hundreds of thousands of hours people spent playing the game and the nearly 37,000 ETH in Sewer Pass trading volume on the secondary market would indicate.
When the game’s two-week run ended on February 16, few in the Web3 space were particularly surprised by the achievements of this latest gamified minting mechanism from the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem. But that almost nonchalant response to Dookey Dash’s smooth execution is compelling evidence of Yuga’s growing ability to transition into the play-to-win (P2E) gaming sector through its projects. It also hints at things to come for the company.
Yuga has been heading in this direction for some time now. When the company announced late last year that Activision Blizzard president Daniel Alegre would succeed Nicole Muniz as CEO of Yuga Labs, he indicated they were targeting the P2E world in a big way. Just a few months earlier, the team had announced Spencer Tucker as their new game director to help in this drive.
It was a revealing move; Tucker, who previously served as President of Games at Scopely, specializes in game design and development, and more importantly, Web3. Now that Dookey Dash has wrapped up, nft now spoke with Tucker about the results of the game, the lessons Yuga learned from his run, and how the company is positioning itself to bring Web3 gaming to the world.
Dookey Dash, by the numbers
On February 16, Yuga announced the winner of Dookey Dash and the recipient of his coveted prize, The Key: Kyle Jackson, a Fortnite player who goes by the nickname “Mongraal” in the esports world. Jackson posted a high score of 928,522 after over ten minutes of play and has since included his Sewer Pass for a healthy 2222 ETH on OpenSea.
Rounding out the top three spots on the Dookey Dash leaderboard is second place with 876,679 (also Jackson) and 875,242, courtesy of Web3 denizen ohhjar_warm. Of course, the fervor surrounding attempts to land on the leaderboard was closely tied to BAYC’s new and ongoing minting mechanic, in which higher-scoring Sewer Pass holders will be placed in a more advantageous position than as it continues to develop.
“The concept of a skills-based mindset is just the beginning of how we innovate blockchain technology,” Tucker explained to nft now. “Mint mechanic is ripe for disruption. In our opinion, the methods for introducing NFTs into the wallets of the burgeoning Web3 industry cannot remain predictable. […] It has to be exciting and weird and grab people’s attention.”
Dookey Dash captured and kept that attention for two weeks straight. It’s worth appreciating the numbers Yuga’s team has put together since the game ended: 25,525 Sewer Pass holders racked up 7.5 million Dookey Dash runs (which equates to roughly 80 years of game time), with an average of almost 28 hours per Sewer Pass. the game helped expand the BAYC universe significantly, growing the ecosystem by 40 percent, according to Yuga’s estimates. The game’s ApeCoin incentive also worked wonders: about a third (9,026) of the game’s active players used the token (a total of $424,566 $APE) to buy power-ups to help them achieve a higher score.
The bored monkey in the room
However, Dookey Dash was not without controversy. In response to concerns that bad actors could try to cheat in the game, Yuga co-founder Greg Solano notify the Web3 community when he explained that the team was collecting a large amount of data on Dookey Dash races and that those who engaged in foul play would have their scores disqualified. this did not satisfy various Web3 watchers who stated that there was a possibility that the game was vulnerable to bots in a way that Yuga had not considered. Such bots, they argued, could use code to “look ahead” in the run and automatically move the player to a safe position to avoid obstacles.
Yuga denies the presence of significant levels of cheating in this form, however, he says that “common client-side cheats” do not pose a significant problem to his detection systems. In response to the allegations, Tucker noted that only two percent of all scores were associated with such behavior, and they were removed from the Dookey Dash leaderboard.
“Hacking is always top of mind for game developers, whether it’s competitive esports or browser-based gaming,” Tucker explained. “Piracy prevention is a cat and mouse game. We’ve instituted a ton of cheat detection software designed to ensure fair play. While people may post about potential attacks, they are often also looking for information about our cheat detection efforts.”
Where does Yuga go from here?
The world of blockchain gaming has been a notoriously difficult industry to navigate. While entries like Axie Infinity have certainly made their mark, no one has been able to build a sustainable, wide-ranging Web3 gaming company, let alone one with mainstream appeal. Tucker and Yuga Labs are working to change that.
“Yuga Labs is uniquely positioned to be one of the first Web3 game companies to crack the code,” Tucker said, “bridging the gap between traditional gaming and the spirit of Web3. We are leveraging our unique blend of storytelling, community, and technology. So yes, free-to-play should pay attention because Yuga is positioned to be a disruptive force and is already producing exciting results.”
“Gamification is a centerpiece of the future for Yuga.”
Spencer Tucker, CEO of Yuga Labs
That ambition is made bolder by the fact that Yuga currently lacks the gaming pedigree and development capabilities of traditional developers. Despite this, the team is eager to increase its internal skills while partnering with leaders in the gaming space to expand that capability. The difference, says Tucker, is in the “core competencies” of the companies they are up against.
“We are doing something completely new in the gaming industry,” Tucker said. “Bringing together the strengths of these industries is a challenge I am excited to take on.”
Tucker remained mum on the details of Yuga’s plans, but said he was looking forward to what the team has in store for the BAYC ecosystem this year.
“Gamification is a centerpiece of the future for Yuga,” Tucker said, hinting that the upcoming return trip to the Otherside in late March will showcase new features and “special surprises” for users. Tucker also highlighted Yuga’s continued plans to explore the minigame and mobile sectors as they build an interoperable metaverse with their community.
For now, those suffering from Dookey Dash withdrawal (and those who missed out on the game entirely) can look forward to February 22, when Sewer Pass holders can re-enter the game to get a complementary trait for their Power Sources. energy in a Dookey Dash Bonus Round called Toad Mode that will produce a separate leaderboard. Sewer Pass holders will then have the opportunity to participate in the “Call” to transform their Passes on March 8, a process in which power sources will be critical.
