Yuga Labs Joins Gucci to Announce Otherside-Themed Jewelry

Luxurious style home Gucci just lately teased a metaverse-oriented partnership with Yuga Labs, the $4 billion firm behind the dominant NFT assortment Bored Ape Yacht Membership, that will blur “the boundaries between the bodily and digital.”

That collaboration is now beginning to take form. 

On Monday, Yuga introduced Otherside: Relics by Gucci, a limited-edition collection of bodily Gucci merchandise and related NFTs tied into the lore of Otherside, Yuga’s long-awaited ape-themed metaverse recreation. 

Otherside, which stays largely below wraps, facilities round a mysterious species of aliens known as “Koda,” and their as-of-yet murky relationship to the titular apes of the BAYC. The sport has been previewed by house owners of Otherdeeds—NFTs that grant rights to digital land plots throughout the recreation’s digital panorama—however has but to completely launch. 

The primary “Relic” to be launched by way of Yuga’s collaboration with Gucci would be the KodaPendant, an NFT representing each a bodily piece of knickknack and a nonfungible token that can unlock quite a few perks throughout the Otherside metaverse. Precisely 3,333 KodaPendants might be made out there on the market starting on Thursday, April 6, at 6:00 pm EST. 

They will solely be purchased with Apecoin, Yuga’s native cryptocurrency, and can every value 450 APE, or $1,917 at writing. 

KodaPendants will solely be out there to present holders of Koda or Vessel NFTs. 10,000 Koda NFTs had been quietly embedded among the many 100,000 Otherdeeds launched final 12 months, and each Otherdeed holder is entitled to say a Vessel NFT, which was revealed by Yuga throughout its reveal final week of Legends of the Mara, an upcoming 2D standalone gaming expertise that expands the mythology of the Otherside universe.

In impact, the rule signifies that KodaPendants might be out there for buy by any Otherdeed holder.

The Koda and Vessel NFTs affiliated with KodaPendants will every be visually up to date to sport a digital model of the jewellery. The KodaPendant can even unlock distinctive beauty choices for Otherside avatars, which can launch this summer season, in keeping with Yuga. 

For no extra value, holders of KodaPendants can even be capable to declare an actual, bodily piece of knickknack from Gucci later this 12 months. Every KodaPendant NFT will include one bodily KodaPendant, a silver chain adorned with a silver pendant within the form of a Koda alien, inscribed with “GG,” a shorthand amongst avid gamers for “good recreation.” Every bodily KodaPendant might be additionally inscribed with a singular version quantity on the again. 

The bodily pendants will solely be made out there by way of mail to residents of choose international locations, together with the USA, Canada, most European nations, and a choose variety of Gulf states: Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Notably, no residents of any African, Central American, or South American nation are eligible to obtain a pendant, nor are residents of any Asian international locations—with the only exception of Japan.

Monday’s announcement shouldn’t be the primary time a high-profile NFT firm has collaborated with a luxurious style large to create rarified bodily items tied to digital possession.

Final 12 months, CryptoPunks, which can also be owned by Yuga, collaborated with luxurious jeweler Tiffany’s to create a restricted version NFT-backed collection of 250 gold, ruby, and diamond necklaces, every modeled within the likeness of purchasers’ distinctive CryptoPunk NFT avatars. These necklaces, which every value $51,000, offered out immediately, and skyrocketed Cryptopunk buying and selling quantity within the course of.