How Yuga Labs hopes to get to the Metaverse first with Otherside

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Yuga Labs successfully sold $1 billion in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to virtual land prospectors, known as Voyagers, who purchased token land in the virtual world Otherside. And in July, the company gave 4,500 travelers access to the "first trip" of its Otherside metaverse.

In March, Miami-based Yuga Labs raised $450 million at a $4 billion valuation. He did this because he created one of the most popular new NFT brands in the form of The Bored Ape Yacht Club, but like other NFT companies he needs to give owners some utility for their NFTs , which use the blockchain's digital ledger to authenticate unique digital objects. And allowing them access to the first voyage was part of the Voyagers' reward.

The Otherside demo was made possible using software from Improbable, a Cambridge, England-based company that has been experimenting with technology to create massive game worlds for years.

In the Otherside demo, Yuga and Improbable were able to accommodate 4,500 players at once in a tight 3D space. What was remarkable about this was that players got full physical effects for their characters, and they could talk to each other using 3D audio and hear all players at once.

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Nicole Muniz, center, is CEO of Yuga Labs.

Nicole Muniz, CEO of Yuga Labs, spoke to me of this great experience. While she thinks Otherside will be "a metaverse, but not necessarily the metaverse," Muniz said she's very happy the demo can show people what's possible with a big investment in technology. (I spoke with Improbable CEO Herman Narula about the technology that made the demo work).

The demo made a good impression. On the first trip weekend for Otherside, fans mentioned and linked to Otherside 34,000 times, with 29,000 mentions of @OthersideMeta and 2,000 mentions of Otherside and "first trip". But it is to be discussed to know where...