The Moonbirds NFT collection has experienced a significant resurgence in sales and market activity following Yuga Labs' decision to sell its intellectual property (IP) to Orange Cap Games, a blockchain game development studio. The sale, announced on May 30, 2025, includes the Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities NFT collections. This move signifies a strategic shift for Yuga Labs, allowing them to concentrate on their core projects, such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and the Otherside metaverse.
Data from NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam reveals a dramatic increase in Moonbirds' weekly sales volume, reaching over $2 million as of June 6, a staggering 2,525% increase compared to the previous week. The collection has already surpassed its sales performance for the entire month of May, with June sales reaching approximately $1.4 million, a 43% increase from May's $900,000. The number of transactions involving Moonbirds has also seen a substantial rise, with over 1,000 transactions recorded in the last seven days, an 877% increase from the previous week. This surge in activity has propelled Moonbirds to become the seventh-ranked NFT collection in weekly sales, surpassing popular collections like Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The market's positive response to the IP sale suggests strong investor optimism regarding the future of Moonbirds under Orange Cap Games' leadership. Following the announcement, the floor price of Moonbirds NFTs experienced a significant jump, reportedly increasing by 40%, from 0.295 ETH to 0.9 ETH.
Yuga Labs' CEO, Greg "Garga" Solano, expressed confidence in Orange Cap Games, stating that Moonbirds "deserve a team whose whole world is the birds." He believes that Orange Cap Games is the right steward to help Moonbirds achieve its full potential. Solano also emphasized that Yuga Labs is now "laser-focused" on its original collections, including Bored Ape Yacht Club and its Otherside metaverse.
Orange Cap Games, known for developing Vibes, is expected to leverage its expertise in game development and interactive experiences to expand the Moonbirds universe beyond its original concept as a profile picture (PFP) collection. The studio's background in trading card games and on-chain gaming suggests that new formats and use cases for the Moonbirds IP are on the horizon. Moonbirds will still launch on Otherside, and any new onchain assets created by the team will be hosted on Ethereum or Yuga's layer-2 network, ApeChain.
The sale of Moonbirds IP marks Yuga Labs' third NFT IP sale in 2025, following the divestment of CryptoPunks and Meebits earlier in the year. This strategic realignment underscores the evolving landscape of digital asset ownership and the increasing focus on core competencies within the NFT market. For Yuga Labs, this divestment allows them to concentrate on their primary projects, while for Orange Cap Games, it represents an opportunity to diversify its offerings and tap into the growing intersection of NFTs and gaming.
