Chang Byung-gyu, founder and chairman of Krafton.
South Korean online game developer Krafton, founded by billionaire Chang Byung-gyu, is investing 8 billion won (about $6.5 million) in two digital art companies to develop non-fungible tokens (NFTs). ) for the metaverse.
The company behind the hit game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds announcement On Monday, he paid $4 million for a 12% stake in the NFT trading platform Xbyblue and $2.5 million for a 6% stake in the online auction service provider Seoul Auction Blue. Both companies are subsidiaries of South Korea’s premier auction house, Seoul Auction, founded in 1998.
The three companies also agreed to develop NFT-related projects, allowing Krafton to create and sell NFT avatars that can be used in the metaverse. NFTs are digital assets stored on the blockchain that certify the authenticity of items such as music, artwork and gaming items.
“Krafton has a rich history of developing proprietary technologies, which are part of the foundation of our NFT and metaverse development,” Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han said in a statement. statement. “Through partnerships with innovative companies like Seoul Action Blue, we are confident that we can combine our research and the expertise of our partners to deliver new experiences that users around the world will find fun and engaging.” »
“This is just the beginning as Krafton will announce additional details regarding its collaboration with Seoul Auction Blue and Xbyblue, as well as other global partnerships positioned to grow our business in the future,” Kim added.
Furthermore, Krafton also announcement that it partnered with Naver Z, a unit of Korean billionaire Lee Hae-jin’s internet giant Naver, to jointly develop a “user-generated NFT metaverse platform.” Naver Z operates Zepeto, a metaverse platform backed by SoftBank.
Krafton, which raised $3.8 billion in its August IPO, making it Korea’s second-largest listing, joins a growing list of Korean companies jumping on the metaverse and NFT bandwagon . Last month, online gaming giant Netmarble, founded by billionaire Bang Jun-hyuk, announced plans to launch a dozen new games using blockchain and metaverse technologies. Kim Beom-su’s Kakao Games, Kim Jung-ju’s Nexon, Kwon Hyuk-bin’s Smilegate, and Park Kwan-ho’s Wemade are also involved in the metaverse and NFTs.
“Since last year, Krafton has established a direction to build a scalable Web 3.0 creator ecosystem with global partners with capabilities and experience and has conducted internal research,” Krafton said. said in a statement.
“Using the capabilities and accumulated experiences of Naver Z and Zepeto, as well as Krafton’s advanced search technology, we are implementing a high-quality “UGC Open Metaverse” differentiated from existing metaverse services, and developing a global economy creators through the NFT plan to activate,” the company added.
