Apeiron Interviews: Lovely and Powerful — Chatting with Apeiron’s Chief Administrative Officer…

Greetings, Apeiron faithful!

Greetings, Apeiron faithful!

This week we’re taking a break from our Apeiron Apostle Adventures to sit down and talk with Foonie Magus’ very own Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Wylie Yip.

Wylie has been around the company since the early days and has a tremendous wealth of experience and insight into how Apeiron came to be, as well as where it’s going in the future! Pull up a chair and join us for a chat as we take a peek behind the scenes…

Before we chair up, a couple of quick community reminders/announcements (renoucements? announceminders?). First, we are currently in the middle of selecting our winning entries for the 2nd Apeiron Grand Prix! We’ve had a lot of incredible entries — legit stunning, you guys really upped the bar — and so please be patient and bear with us while we judge them, we’re determined that every entry receives its fair chance to win!

Second, we have two matches of our Guild Wars Valorant Tournament happening tonight! Leo Ventures takes on Avocado at 22:00 GMT+8, and YGGSEA faces down PIF DAO at 23:00 GMT+8. You can watch the matches on Twitch and join in on the fun through Discord, pick a team to support and win rewards!

Ok, with that out of the way let’s grab our wayward chairs and get down to business. For this one, we first had to do a bit of detective work. Or should we say, I did (Bookworm). I had heard rumors of a mysterious but powerful figure. “She’s always smiling,” said one. “She’s the company babysitter,” said another. “With a fear of chickens!” “She’s someone who will listen to me, and I will always defend her,” said a third. “Powerful and lovely,” said one of her close colleagues. Upon hearing all this, I knew. I knew I needed to seek her out and get down to the bottom of the mysterious and powerful leader who is none other than WYLIE YIP!

Foonie Magus (Bookworm): Hi Wylie! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. If we could start with you introducing yourself and what you do for us?

Wylie: Yes, no problem! So I am Wylie Yip and I am the CAO for Foonie Magus.

FM: What does being the CAO involve? What kind of work do you do?

Wylie: Well, of course there is the administrative work for the company — arranging events, talking with staff about any issues they might be having, this kind of thing. We have been growing a lot as a company in the last few months as well, so there is more administrative work than before — plus we want to assure staff that they have a career path for growth within the company. Then in addition to the administrative things, I also organize events overseas — we have events coming up in the Philippines and Thailand in the next couple of months. And then, I also work with overseas partners to promote our game — it is a part of our brand management and merchandising development projects, which I am also involved in.

FM: Oh…my…god. Wylie, you do so many things!

Wylie: Yes! I am quite busy haha.

FM: I want to ask a bit more about the administrative work — despite how busy you are, I notice you always coming into the office, cracking jokes and chatting with people. And people always smile when they see you coming! Which is pretty great. How do you build those kinds of positive working relationships with people?

Wylie: Well actually we are in kind of a funny industry — a unique industry, I should say. People tend to be more shy, introverted, quieter than in other industries. This can mean that people don’t always talk to each other, or there can be miscommunication. Tempers can get out of hand easily in this situation. So rather than let people sit there and not talk and be passive, I try to get out there and talk to everyone. I want to know everyone. I want to talk to everyone and let them know they can talk to me if they need to. And in this way we can make a better working environment and ultimately be a happier and more productive company.

FM: That’s a very hands on, down to earth approach — big respect. So then, what’s your story — how did you end up here, working on Apeiron, and taking on all these responsibilities?

Wylie: Well I guess it started around 10 years ago. That was when I met Orange — Foonie Magus’ COO. You could say Orange and I have a “miracle relationship”.

FM: Oh wow haha. How so?

Wylie: When we first met, we used to fight all the time. And Orange found out that I often reach the opposite decision of him, but also that I make my choices quickly and decisively. And I guess he respected that, because when he and Frank — Foonie Magus’ CEO — went to establish Aither, Orange sought me out as a partner!

FM: Cool! So where were you before Foonie Magus? Did you have experience with the gaming industry?

Wylie: Yes you could say that. Actually I worked at Konami for around 8 years on Yu-Gi-Oh! It’s a card game. Maybe you know it?

FM: Yes of course! That’s…pretty awesome.

Wylie: Thanks! I helped to host events — like tournaments and stuff — around Hong Kong and Asia. The job taught me a lot — especially about licensing and all that, the rules and regulations. But besides Konami, I also spent a lot of time working at various start-up companies, helping to build teams and grow brands.

FM: You’ve done so much amazing stuff! So then you came to Foonie Magus?

Wylie: Yes! And when I come here I developed a strategy which I call winx4! Win win win win. And the strategy is: I want the company to win, the staff to win, partners and investors to win, and myself to win.

FM: Sounds like a lot of winning! How has implementing the strategy been going?

Wylie: Of course it’s easy on paper but in practice there are a lot of challenges. But I will say, with Apeiron, there is a lot of excitement, we believe we have an excellent product here and are looking forward to the future!

FM: Right so let’s talk a little bit more about Apeiron. What kind of work are you doing for our game?

Wylie: Well you know, when Frank and Orange and Gem — Foonie Magus’ CTO — sit down together, we’re thinking about not just the now but the future. We’re making a plan. And we’re asking the question: what kind of strategy do we need to see the success of Apeiron? We’re looking to and learning from companies that have had big brand-building success, like Disney and Pixar. And one thing that I asked for very early on was an iconic character: a character that could appeal to everyone, that would attract both adults and children, and be something that we could use to promote Apeiron.

FM: I think I know where this might be going. This is how the dood was born!

Wylie: That’s right haha! Or at least, one reason for the doods. Actually in terms of licensing for brands, if you have a recognizable character like our doods it’s much easier to do branding. And we are very happy, because the dood is quite popular! We have big plans for our doods in the future and hope to release much more merchandise, as well as to produce even some movies or tv shows!

FM: That’s so exciting! The doods have a bright future ahead of them haha. One other thing that I wanted to ask you about with relation to Apeiron: does the fact that Apeiron is an NFT game make a difference in terms of how you approach branding and licensing?

Wylie: Actually one thing we are trying to do with the branding is to connect the NFTs to the physical world. Because sometimes when something is always virtual, it can be hard to conceptualize it, or to really feel it. So for example with our doods, we made the Dood plushie, and you can exchange a Dood Plushie NFT and actually get the real, physical plushie for yourself! Kind of bridging the gap between virtual and physical.

FM: Yes! Makes sense. Ok just a couple more questions. Is it true you’re afraid of birds?

Wylie: Yes haha. It’s a kind of phobia? I don’t know why. I’ve always had it.

FM: Interesting haha. And then I have some comments from the marketing team — who you work quite closely with, I understand — describing you as “powerful and lovely.” Any comment?

Wylie: Oh my god haha. That’s pretty funny! But I like it.

FM: Ok and last thing. In Apeiron, do you plan to be a good goddess or an evil one?

Wylie: Everyone will say that I will be good. But actually I would like to be an evil goddess. I want people to see my dark side.

FM: Oooh spooky! Alright, well, I know you’re very busy, and I think that’s about all the questions I have for now. Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk to us!

Wylie: My pleasure! See you later!

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And that’s a wrap! Big thanks to Wylie for taking the time out of her schedule to sit down and talk with us. And as for you, dearest readers, what did you make of this one? Come and let us know! We’d love to talk to you about what you think the future of Apeiron will be, and your ideas for how we can build a better brand. Head over to our Discord, Twitter, and Telegram and join the conversation.

And as always, thanks for reading. We’ll see you next week with some more of the Apeiron Apostle Adventures! Our daring crew will soon be heading into the dungeon, where they’ll encounter old friends, older foes, and even a strange…but no- you’ll see :P

Ciao for now!