Krafton, the developer of PUBG: Battlegrounds, one of the most popular games of today, announced a new partnership. South Korea-based Seoul Auction Blue and its subsidiary Xbyblue received investment from Krafton. The purpose of the investment is to produce and sell NFT avatars for Krafton.
Krafton invested $6.6 million in total with $2.5M to Seoul Auction Blue and $4.1M to Xbyblue. In addition to this investment, Krafton also signed agreements with companies to develop projects for NFTs. As part of the investment, Bluehole Studio, one of Krafton’s game studios, will lead the collaboration with Seoul Auction Blue and Xbyblue. The partnership’s goal is to produce and sell NFT avatars for use in the metaverse.
Seoul Auction Blue is a South Korean auction house. It operates an art purchasing platform called SOTWO. Its subsidiary Xbyblue provides services for protecting and regulating digital content IP in limited content.
Changhan Kim, CEO of Krafton, said:
“Krafton has a rich history of developing proprietary technologies, which are part of the foundation of our NFT and metaverse development. Through partnerships with innovative companies like Seoul Action Blue, we’re confident we can combine our research and our partner’s expertise to offer new experiences that global users will find fun and engaging.”
Jung-bong Lee, CEO of Seoul Auction Blue, added:
“Through the IP of various content and artists Xxblue has secured, we believe Seoul Auction Blue is uniquely positioned to expand and popularise the NFT and metaverse ecosystems. Xxblue possesses a number of sustainable art IP, and it will take on challenges with strong partners like Krafton to grow and expand those IP.”
Krafton’s interest in NFTs is an interesting one. The fact that big game companies start working on this issue one by one solidifies the future of NFTs in the game world. The fact that the developer of a game like PUBG comes up with NFT avatars may herald a radical change in the games we love.
