What Is Otherside? Yuga Labs' Metaverse Project Explained

Otherside is a blockchain-based virtual world created by Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), designed to connect its various NFT collections into a single interactive metaverse built around land parcels called "Otherdeeds."

The project launched in 2022 with one of the largest NFT land sales in history, selling tens of thousands of Otherdeed NFTs to holders of Yuga Labs collections and members of the public. Each Otherdeed represents a plot of virtual land in the Otherside map, and owning one was pitched as a way to participate in a persistent world where BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and other Yuga-affiliated NFTs could theoretically interact, battle, or socialize together.

How Otherside land NFTs work

Otherdeed land NFTs are ERC-721 tokens, meaning each parcel is unique and individually owned, similar to other collectible NFTs tracked on /defi style data platforms, though land NFTs are typically valued by location, resource traits, and proximity to other notable parcels rather than pure rarity scores.

Each Otherdeed originally came bundled with virtual resources like "Kodas" (companion creatures) and materials intended for use in future gameplay. The idea mirrors older internet virtual-land concepts, but built entirely on-chain with ownership verifiable through a /wallet rather than a centralized game account.

Connection to the BAYC ecosystem

Otherside is deliberately positioned as connective tissue between Yuga Labs' NFT lines. BAYC and Mutant Ape holders were given priority access to the initial land sale, and the broader vision involves avatars from those collections eventually being usable as playable characters inside Otherside experiences.

This is a common pattern in /glossary/nft ecosystems: a flagship collection establishes a community and brand, then a metaverse or gaming layer is built to extend utility and give holders additional reasons to keep their tokens rather than sell. Whether that utility materializes as promised is a legitimate open question for any project, and Otherside's full gameplay vision has been delivered in phases and demos rather than a single finished game.

Comparing Otherside to other metaverse platforms

Feature	Otherside	Established rivals (e.g. Decentraland, Sandbox)
Launch year	2022	2017–2020
Land token standard	ERC-721 (Otherdeed)	ERC-721 (LAND/parcels)
Primary tie-in	Yuga Labs NFT collections	Independent platform tokens
Governance	Centralized (Yuga Labs)	DAO-based in some cases
Gameplay status	Phased demos, ongoing development	Live but low daily activity

Risks and things to understand

Land NFT prices in any metaverse project are highly speculative and tend to track the popularity of the underlying brand more than actual usage of the virtual world. Read /blog/common-defi-scams for patterns that also show up in NFT land sales, such as fake mint sites and phishing links during high-attention launches like Otherside's.

Because Otherdeed and related assets trade on secondary marketplaces, standard /blog/how-to-store-nfts-safely practices apply: use a hardware wallet for high-value holdings, verify contract addresses before minting or transferring, and never sign a transaction you don't fully understand. It's also worth checking /blog/what-is-an-nft-drainer-scam since land sales are frequent targets for wallet-draining scams.

Utility promises in any metaverse or gaming NFT project are forward-looking statements, not guarantees. A land parcel's value depends entirely on whether the promised game, social features, or economy actually ship and attract users, which can take years and may never fully materialize.

Bottom line

Otherside is Yuga Labs' attempt to build a shared virtual world around its NFT brands, anchored by Otherdeed land tokens that grant potential future access to games and experiences. Treat any land purchase as a speculative bet on execution and community engagement, not a guaranteed digital asset, and apply the same wallet security discipline you would to any other high-value NFT.