Quick take:
- KRAFTON and NAVER Z are forming a joint venture for a new metaverse platform “Migaloo”.
- The two companies will invest 48 billion Korean won (~$36.4 million) in the new North America-based entity.
- KRAFTON will own 85% of the venture with NAVER Z owning the remaining 15%.
KRAFTON and NAVER Z are forming a new joint venture in North America with an initial investment of 48 billion Korean won (~$36.4 million). According to the announcement, the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS developer will own 85% of the entity whereas NAVER Z will own the remaining 15%.
The video game publisher first made its foray into web3 in February 2022 when it signed an MoU with the Korean internet conglomerate to develop a new Web3 and non-fungible token (NFT) project aimed at building a metaverse platform.
And now, the two companies have revealed they are developing a new metaverse experience called “Migaloo” under the joint venture. The platform has been under development since last year and is scheduled for launch before the end of 2023.
The Migaloo metaverse experience will adopt a create-to-earn (C2E) model, allowing creators to develop and sell content within the platform as NFTs.
KRAFTON game development and publishing experience will be crucial in equipping the platform with creator tools and features, while NAVER Z’s will be spearheading planning, partnership and acquisitions as they look to grow the joint venture. The Korean internet giant also brings a wealth of experience in building metaverse projects, having created Asia’s largest metaverse platform, ZEPETO.
Commenting on the announcement, Henry Hyung-chul Park, head of the Migaloo project at KRAFTON expressed an optimistic view of the venture saying, “As both companies have abundant experience in successful global content services and have united their efforts, we will definitely achieve good results.”
On the other hand, Chang-wook Kim, CEO of NAVER Z commented: “We will grow Migaloo as a new metaverse platform where creators can realize new values in an NFT-based ecosystem based on their own creations.”
In March 2022, KRAFTON also signed an MOU with Solana Labs to design and build web3 games on the Solana blockchain.
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