Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Netmarble looking for cash cow in metaverse, blockchain
By Baek Byung-yeul
Bang Jun-hyuk, chairman of Netmarble, speaks during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Netmarble
By Baek Byung-yeul
Netmarble is actively seeking new business opportunities in the metaverse and blockchain sectors, as the convergence of these emerging technologies with games has become an irreversible trend, Bang Jun-hyuk, chairman of the company, said Thursday.
“Until 2020, the blockchain business was questioned for its safety and stability, but since last year, blockchain technology has been applied to various industries, creating a consensus on the need to link the technology with existing businesses. So, Netmarble also decided to join the business in earnest starting this year,” the chairman said during a press conference.
Bang said Netmarble's blockchain-related business will proceed in two ways. “Netmarble is focusing on games. We plan to release a game that combines with blockchain. Netmarble's subsidiary Netmarble F&C has a different direction as its priority goal is to create a blockchain ecosystem that can encompass games, digital content and even e-commerce.”
As part of the plan, Netmarble will launch the blockchain game “Everybody's Marble: Metaworld” this year. By introducing a real estate investment feature in the game, the game allows players to buy and sell non-fungible token (NFT)-based real estate in a virtual space.
For the metaverse business, Bang said Netmarble “will create a second real world, not a virtual space, by converging the metaverse with blockchain technology.”
Netmarble F&C already unveiled what it calls “meta humans.” Bang said its virtual characters will be able to interact with users in its metaverse platform.
The chairman also revealed his view about the government regulation on pay-to-earn games (P2E). Under the law here, cashing in items obtained from playing games is prohibited. Mentioning the emergence of a new trend in the global market of earning profits from playing games, he said the government should allow the launch of these kinds of games while regulating any social problems that emerge.
“Game companies here and around the world are preparing to launch blockchain-based games and it is quite unfortunate that they are not able to launch the games in Korea,” He said. “It is desirable not to ban the launch of the P2E games, but to strengthen regulatory measures for possible side effects.”
In addition to its vision for new technologies, Netmarble also unveiled 20 new games in development. The games included a role-playing game based on the popular fantasy series “Game of Thrones” and “BTS Dream: TinyTAN House,” a rhythm action game featuring K-pop group BTS.