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.
Lotte's IT affiliate unveils profitable metaverse model at CES
Roh Jun-hyung, CEO of Lotte Data Communication, explains the company's metaverse business plan at its booth for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
LAS VEGAS ― Lotte Data Communication has gained much attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with its metaverse service, which allows customers to purchase goods easily and conveniently in a virtual space. Its CEO said Saturday that the company aims to blur the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds and launch a metaverse service that can actually generate profits.
“We have been working on how to connect the virtual world with the real world through our metaverse system. We will try to create a metaverse world like we saw in Steven Spielberg's film 'Ready Player One,' and we plan to present a visible result by the end of this year,” Roh Jun-hyung, CEO of Lotte Data Communication, said at the company's CES booth.
Lotte Data Communication is the IT affiliate of the logistics, retail and chemical giant Lotte Group. Showcasing the company's metaverse service to reporters, the CEO said the company aims to be a lifetime value creator for the group.
“By adding a fun factor, our goal is to make a profitable metaverse business,” he said, adding that the company plans to unveil its virtual space, Hub World, which is 25 times larger than Seoul's Yeouido, by the end of this year.
Visitors wait in line to experience Lotte Data Communication's virtual reality (VR) service at the company's booth at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Saturday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul
The metaverse platform that Lotte will introduce to the public by the end of this year is based on realistic graphics. Through Lotte's virtual world, users will be able to purchase actual goods and watch music performances.
“The platform is based on a realistic visual background that allows users to feel the offline experience,” said Kim Dong-kyu, CEO of Caliverse, a subsidiary of Lotte Data Communication that is developing the metaverse service which runs on PCs, virtual reality (VR) headsets and 3D monitors. “A detailed description is essential for shopping to take place in a virtual space. Goods should be shown as they are and we reproduced the appearance of a real space in the virtual space.”
The company also introduced its electric vehicle (EV) charging service, which Roh said is also a part of the company's vision to blur boundaries.
“In the future, the number of EVs will increase more and more. If customers charge their EVs with our EV charging system, they can earn mileage, which will be used in department stores and the virtual world. This is an example of integrating the real world and the metaverse world,” Roh said.