YGG Play Summit: Balancing Passion and Business as a KOL

At the YGG Play Summit, Jayvee Fernandez is joined by Sam Steffanina, YellowPanther, and Alliestrasza to talk about the importance of aligning a KOL’s strengths and interests with a game’s goals.

One of the key topics discussed in YGG's Perspectives in Play report is the value of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in Web3 gaming. KOLs are viewed as one of the keys to the success of Web3 games. Many industry leaders who shared their candid experiences during the Leaders Roundtable event recalled the difficulty of finding authentic and genuine KOLs who grow with their brand. Some expressed that the most powerful influencers they encountered for their projects were built from community members who genuinely love the game.

During the YGG Play Summit, Philstar Technology Editor Jayvee Fernandez was joined on stage by three KOLs: WolvesDAO co-founder Sam Steffanina, GamingGrid co-founder YellowPanther, and Parallel TCG ambassador Alliestrazsa for the panel called “Harnessing the Superpower of Audience.” The Perspectives in Play sentiments were echoed in this discussion as they explored how strong relationships with games and deep engagement contributed to each of their successes. They also talked about the potential for Web3 to change how KOLs approach content creation.

Listen to the full recording on YouTube.

YGG Play Summit: Harnessing the Superpower of Audience

Jayvee (9:01): Brands, games, and talent agencies all have KPIs they want to meet. How do you find the best working relationships with talent managers or games? You're helping them, but you're also preserving your personal truth and beliefs.

Sam (9:27): We were talking about this at the WolvesDen, which we were doing physically in Makati. Whenever you sit down with a brand that wants to work with you as a creator, it's so important to understand what it is that they're trying to accomplish, and also understand what it is that you're good at helping people accomplish. So often, somebody wants impressions, daily active users, people to do game nights in their community, or the floor price to go up. All of these things require different people and different solutions.

For instance, I'm not good at getting people daily active users, because the WolvesDAO is 300 people. But if you want 300 passionate, impactful founders, VCs, and content creators to care about what your product is, then we're amazing to approach. It’s about finding people who have alignment and want exactly what you're good at providing. Then, of course, finding alignment with a game that you genuinely care about, want to play, and want to be involved with. If you can find that alignment, everything else takes care of itself.

You get into trouble whenever you try to mismatch because you're afraid that there isn't another deal around the corner. Nobody's happy whenever the deals come to fruition.

YellowPanther (10:41): I used to be with a talent agency, and a lot of times, there's not much alignment because they always think of themselves. As content creators, we always want to do what we want. We want to have creative freedom. We want to have a lot of these things, but a lot of times, they just want money, right? They want to use your brand, leverage it, and then sell you as a package, which is why I'm independent and run the GamingGrid community.

I agree with what Sam said. Different campaigns have different strategies and ultimately different objectives. Right now, I work with games I believe in and enjoy so that I can show that side to my audience. Even yesterday, I dropped a very exclusive alpha with Pirate Nation, and the whole community was super hyped, and they probably watched that amazing video a few times. That is what I want to do: share alpha and insightful videos with my audience.

You can listen to the full recording on YouTube.

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