South Korean game giant Netmarble plans to release metaverse games that would allow the connection between the real and the virtual worlds. This was announced by the company’s CEO, Kwon Young Sik, during the 5th Netmarble Together with Press (NTP) meeting on Thursday (January 27, 2022).
Netmarble was founded in 2000 and turned into one of the most successful mobile game companies in the world. The company has more than 3,500 employees in South Korea as well as internationally. It successfully released a number of hit titles including Lineage 2: Revolution, Seven Knights, MARVEL Future Fight, and BTC World.
Now the game leader is not planning to lag behind and will enter the metaverse:
“We plan to develop metaverse games that allow users, either individuals or companies, to gain virtual assets that can be exchanged for real assets such as currency through blockchain technology,” said Bang Jun-hyuck, Netmarble’s Founder and Chairman.
The company plans the release of twenty new games (18 mobile titles and 2 titles for PC), 70% of which will use blockchain technology.
One of the games, Everyone’s Marble – Metaworld, is a metaverse version of the popular board game with the same name. The game is set in South Korea and users can use their virtual characters to buy and sell real estate through nonfungible tokens (NFTs). The international version of the game will allow users to earn real money through a tradeable game currency. Play-to-earn (P2E) games are banned in South Korea, however, so players there would only be allowed NFT trades.
Another game that Netmarble plans to release in March 2022 is called A3: Still Alive and is again a play-to-earn game that would allow users to monetize in-game assets like weapons with cryptocurrency.
In the meantime, the company is working with HBO and Warner Bros on an interactive Game of Thrones mobile game. A teaser of the game has been released during the 5th NTP Event.
