South Korea is considered to be the fourth largest video game market and one of the biggest adopters of blockchain. However, the country has banned play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games due to the integration of cryptocurrencies. New pro-crypto chairman Yoon Suk-yeol had hinted at lifting the ban, but the government has yet to show any significant effort.
Anthony Yoon, managing partner of blockchain acceleration and investment firm ROK Capital, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, said that GameFi is a natural fit for South Korean video game developers. Yoon shed light on the current state of GameFi in the country and how game studios are approaching blockchain integration during the Korean Blockchain Week 2022 (KBW).
Yoon explained that there are two mindsets among Web 2.0 gaming companies looking to move to Web 3.0 and blockchain gaming. While one side is looking for ways to get value for their projects and build their ecosystem on the blockchain from scratch, with token integration being the last step, the other side is prepared to launch a token first and outsource the technology.
Discussing the popularity of global blockchain projects like Solana and Polygon versus native Korean projects, Yoon explained that their popularity doesn’t just depend on the amount of capital they put up, but rather the infrastructure and ecosystem they offer. She explained:
“From a feasibility standpoint, I think these game studios are also looking at whether their users are on this chain. Is there an ecosystem on this chain? Is there an infrastructure on chain?”
Yoon also said that although native networks play a key role in ecosystem development, the main goal of video game studios is to build a global ecosystem.
In another talk, the CEO of WeMade, Henry Chang, spoke to Cointelegraph about current trends in the sector Gamefi, its future potential and WeMade’s new blockchain gaming platform, Wemix.
Chang said that although blockchain games with cryptocurrency integrations are banned in Korea, cryptocurrencies definitely have a utility in the video game industry. He added that cryptocurrencies will find a place in most games in the next few years. He concluded by saying that for crypto games to be successful, they must have a formidable in-game economy.
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