Krafton, the parent company behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, is now ramping up plans for an “NFT metaverse platform” through a partnership with NAVER X. This follows the announcement that Krafton invested in two companies with plans to create NFT avatars and more under the direction of Bluehole Studio. That announcement came with a stay tuned message with promised movement and global partnerships down the line, but the first additional step is now clear. Krafton is not just prepping to introduce metaverse elements, it’s also planning to create its own entity.
This move will provide what they’re calling, via press release, “a new Web 3.0 and non-fungible token (NFT) project aimed at building an NFT metaverse platform”, so this effort will add to the reach Krafton could have with its collective NFT plans. With the deal involving Seoul Action Blue and XBYBLUE initially announced as NFT avatars and leveraging Krafton and Bluehole’s MMORPG experience, this deal has potential to expand on all of this significantly.
NAVER Z is the company in charge of ZEPETO, known as Asia’s largest metaverse platform. With over 290 million users, those in the virtual world interact using AR tech. The blend with Krafton is aimed at user-generated content, and will involve the creation of its own UGC tools and a new virtual world built on Unreal Engine. NAVER Z will manage the new service and handle community support.
Krafton is clearly putting a lot of resources into developing its presence and potential when it comes to NFT and companion metaverse tech and virtual worlds. These deals are unlikely to be the last when it comes to Krafton’s ventures into NFTs.
And if it feels like the NFT and metaverse words get thrown around a lot lately, it can be helpful to have some guides to understand what’s worth your time. And what might still need time to cook.
