We’ve learned PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Tera creator Krafton is getting into NFTs and metaverse related projects.
One press release discusses Krafton’s $2.5 million investment into Seoul Auction Blue and $4.1 million investment in XBYBLUE, two Korean companies that run online art platforms SOTWO and XXBLUE.
The press release also mentions that Krafton is getting into NFTs as they’ve entered pre-contractual negotiations to develop a marketplace with both companies alongside Bluehole Studio, the developers of PUBG: Battlegrounds and Tera. The aim for this new project is to “create and sell NFT avatars that can be used in the metaverse in the future.”
In another press release, Krafton announced entering similar negotiations with Naver Z. This Korean company operates ZEPETO, one of the most popular metaverse apps in Asia, and their goal is to establish a joint venture with Krafton to “‘이용자 창작 기반 NFT 메타버스 플랫폼’을 구축하고 운영하는 프로젝트를 추진한다” [translated to Promote a project to build and operate a ‘user-generated NFT Metaverse platform’.]
In both press releases, it was announced that Krafton had entered into a memorandum of understanding with these companies, which is a precursor to an official contract. At this point, it’s unclear if all three companies will be working with Bluehole Studio on the same project.
However, the combination of Bluehole’s experience running massive multiplayer games like Tera and PUBG, SOTWO and XXBLUE’s relationships with digital artists and their properties, and ZEPETO’s large audience, it appears that all the components are in place for these Korean companies to create a virtual world with monetary value.
Krafton’s announcements signify the company has a vision for the future of the metaverse and NFT games that’s closer to Ubisoft’s outlook. It appears that their plans will be more involved in the metaverse and blockchain technology than Konami but less than Microsoft.
Since non-fungible tokens have exploded in value, many Korean companies have found success implementing the technology into new and existing games. It’s possible that the public perception to NFTs in the Korean gaming industry may be more favorable than in the English-speaking world, which would make it easier to justify a business decision of this magnitude.
But maybe NFT-related news stories published on Korean gaming sites are also filled with angry comments lamenting the death of the gaming industry.
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