NFT developers Bored Ape Yacht Club and Yuga Labs are reconsidering their partnerships with Blur and OpenSea following a reduction in royalties. In September, both Blur and OpenSea drastically reduced royalties, cutting them from $269 million to $2.4 million. Yuga Labs has made the decision to stop trading its Mara collection on these platforms, while some projects in the NFT branch are expanding into other sectors.

• Major developers of the NFT, Bored Ape Yacht Club and Yuga Labs, are re-evaluating offerings on the popular Blur and OpenSea platforms, opposing recent licence fee reductions.
• In order to increase transaction volumes in the shrinking NFT market, Blur and OpenSea have drastically reduced this year the percentage of royalties that creators earn from transactions in the secondary market.
• Sales of actual products brought in $7 million this year, a significant difference to the $300 000 brought in by NFT royalties.

Key players in the non-transferable token (NFT) industry, such as Yuga Labs Inc, the company behind CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club and the Pudgy Penguins line, are reassessing their partnerships with market leaders Blur and OpenSea. According to Bloomberg sources, several are considering suspending new deals or have already suspended existing ones.

In an effort to increase transaction volumes in the shrinking NFT market, Blur and OpenSea drastically reduced this year the percentage of royalties that creators earn from transactions in the secondary market. Data analysis firm Nansen reports that royalties in September were just $2.4 million, a significant drop from the peak of $269 million in January.

The NFT market environment is changing dramatically

Yuga Labs has decided to discontinue trading its latest NFT coin, Mara, on Blur and OpenSea. The company says the tokens will only be listed in markets that retain sufficient licence fees. The company has even revealed job cuts in light of the unfavourable state of the market.

Blur initially dominated the market with its aggressive low cost model, quickly overtaking OpenSea and forcing the latter to reschedule its pricing. OpenSea now charges optional fees to developers, although Blur still charges a base licence fee of 0.5%. The systems handle almost 70% of all NFT transactions between them.

Faced with declining royalties, some projects are expanding into other industries, such as video games or producing physical objects. An example of a company that has taken such a step is Pudgy Penguins, which decided to introduce merchandise sales. It is worth noting that the sale of these products brought in as much as$7 million this year, a significant difference from the $300,000 that the company earned from  royalties from the NFT.

Currently, an impressive two-thirds of this year’s turnover in the NFT market comes from the top collections of Yuga Labs and Pudgy Penguins. It is worth noting that the cancellation of these projects from popular platforms could significantly affect the entire market.