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Blockchain

Korea's gaming industry turns to blockchain, unwavered by Seoul’s policy

Play-to-earn and NFT games expected to dominate the market in 2022

By Dec 20, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)

3 Min read

KRAFTON, Inc. headquarter in Bundang-gu near capital Seoul
KRAFTON, Inc. headquarter in Bundang-gu near capital Seoul
Come next year, Korea’s online game developers are poised to release a number of games on blockchain platforms.

The companies have lined up the so-called Play-To-Earn (P2E) games or those using NFTs, despite the Korean government’s hesitance towards recognizing these games as legitimate products. Seoul is concerned about the speculative nature of some of the P2E games. 

GAMING GIANTS BULLISH ON BLOCKCHAIN 

In the new year, Seoul-based video game developer WeMade Co., Ltd. plans to develop some 100 games using its blockchain gaming platform dubbed WEMIX.

The ambitious plan comes on the back of the popularity of WeMade’s overseas version of Mir4, a free-to-play MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing games.)

Smaller online game developers have also released their plans to introduce new products on the WEMIX platform, namely; AN GAMES Co., Ltd, LightCON, Softon Entertainment, ACTION SQUARE CO., LTD., UTPlus Interactive Inc., and SUPERCAT. 

In the growing WEMIX ecosystem, users will acquire items within a game using the namesake WEMIX token and could monetize it if they wish. At present, about 10 games are using the WEMIX coins. 

Another online and mobile game developer Com2uS also plans to release its token, tentatively called C2X, in the near future. It plans to incorporate NFT in its “Summoner’s War: Chronicles” and “GAMEVIL Professional Baseball.” 

Com2uS is also collaborating with TIKITAKA Corp., RPGRepublic Co. Ltd., and DAERISOFT.

Lineage and Guild Wars maker NCSoft Corp. will launch an NFT-incorporated game and Kakao Games Corp. will showcase its first NFT exchange next year.  

The Korean government, in effect, prohibits the distribution of blockchain based games within its borders.

The rating board of Korea, GRAC (Game Rating and Administration Committee,) has yet to categorize P2E and NFT related games and grade the relevant products. As such, distribution of these products are not yet legally permitted. 

PERVASIVE NATURE OF BLOCKCHAIN

The gaming giants are not fretting, however, and for a good reason. It is impossible for a government to block blockchain based games in its entirety.

For mobile games, especially, the developers grade the games themselves. This explains how several P2E mobile games like Thetan Arena were released in Korea recently.  

An industry insider told The Korea Economic Daily that even though the grading agency can stop the distribution of a mobile blockchain game after it has already been released, it will not be able to stop them all if similar games get released at the same time. 

There is also an increasing number of users in Korea that play overseas P2E games using VPN. 

Poster for \
Poster for "Dungeon & Fighter," action role-playing game developed by NEXON Korea Corp.

FEW BIG MOVERS TREADING CAUTIOUSLY 

There are some big players in Korea that are treading cautiously with the government’s regulations. KRAFTON is one of them.

Formerly known as Bluehole, the company says it does not sweat over making profit by adding new features. 

“For the items in a game to hold value outside of the platform, the entertainment value must be prioritized,” said KRAFTON’s CFO Bae Dong-keun.

The country’s No. 1 ranked game developer NEXON Korea Corp. is also silent on any plans for a blockchain related game. The parent company NEXON Co., Ltd.’s CEO and President Owen Mahoney is widely thought to be critical of game developers funneling record amounts of investments into developing metaverse platforms. 

An industry insider told The Korea Economic Daily it will be worth noting which companies embrace blockchain and which do not in the new year. 

Write to Kim Joo-wan at kjwan@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article
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