Korean game developers scurry to launch P2E versions in 2022

South Korean game developers are scurrying to release their versions of play-to-earn (P2E) games, which have been growing at a rapid pace despite being banned at home for their speculative nature.

In their efforts to foray into the P2E gaming space, Korean gaming firms are in a rush to issue their own digital currencies for new games that will be based mainly on their flagship titles.

Netmarble Corp. will soon release the early access version of Golden Bros, a blockchain-based casual shooting game, according to industry officials on April 11. 

In Golden Bros, players can choose various partner characters for real-time three-on-three battles. While playing games, they can obtain Netmarble's P2E token GBC, exchangeable for Netmarble’s reserve token ITAM Cube.

The Cube can then be used to buy in-game items or can be exchanged for cash. 

Last month Netmarble introduced P2E features to A3: STILL ALIVE, its latest survival battle royale massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The company will incorporate non-fungible token (NFT) elements into other games to be released, including Second Country: Cross Worlds. 

P2E games allow players to earn digital coins issued by the game publisher, and the coins can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges.

COME2US, NEOWIZ

Com2uS Corp. will unveil the P2E version of its flagship game Summoners War: Lost Centuria, for which it introduced its digital currency C2X.

During its pre-launch testing session on April 4, some 380,000 units of C2X, worth 1.7 billion won ($1.4 billion), sold out in three hours.

Com2uS is planning to incorporate P2E elements into its 10 games to be launched this year, including Chromatic Souls: AFK Raid, a collectible role-playing game.

Neowiz Holdings Corp. is following suit. It will roll out new mobile games with P2E elements this year, including Crypto Golf Impact, Alliance of Valiant Arms (AVA) and role-playing game Browndust.

WeMade leads the country’s blockchain-based gaming business. It is the first South Korean developer to apply the P2E gaming model to its popular free-to-play MMORPG, Mir 4.

Last year the overseas version of Mir 4 recorded 1.3 million simultaneously connected users at one point. Mir 4 allows players to trade an in-game resource into its digital currency WEMIX. This year WeMade plans to develop around 100 games on its blockchain gaming platform WEMIX.

In 2017, Vietnam's Sky Mavis invented the P2E concept with the release of its NFT game Axie Infinity.

The game allows players to earn its AXS coin tradeable on crypto exchanges and made explosive growth in Vietnam and the Philippines. Sky Mavis became a unicorn with a corporate value of $3 billion last year.

"P2E games could become our new growth engine," said a gaming company official. "The general mood is not to be left behind in this rapidly growing market." 

As P2E games are not legally permitted in South Korea, however, another industry insider advised that game developers prioritize enhancing the entertainment value rather than promoting it as a means of making money. 

Last November NCSoft Corp., another leading game developer, announced a plan to create its own cryptocurrency available for its NFT-based MMORPGs. But no progress has been reported yet in that regard.

The country’s No. 1 game developer Nexon Corp. is also silent on any plans for a blockchain-related game.

Write to Seung-Woo Lee at leeswoo@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.