KRAFTON Inc. (CEO CH Kim) plans to establish a joint venture with NAVER Z Corp. (co-CEOs Dae-wook Kim and Chang-wook Kim) for the metaverse platform business.
KRAFTON announced on April 17th that it has decided to acquire stocks and investment securities of other corporations to establish the joint venture. The total investment amount for the joint venture is KRW 48 billion, with KRAFTON set to acquire KRW 40.8 billion and NAVER Z KRW 7.2 billion. After the acquisition, KRAFTON will hold an 85% stake in the joint venture, and NAVER Z will hold a 15% stake.
Both companies have been working on the metaverse project "Migaloo," based on Web 3.0, since last year and decided to establish the joint venture for full-scale development and services with the goal of launching the metaverse within this year. The joint venture will be established in North America, and the company name will be announced at the time of establishment.
"Migaloo" adopts a C2E (Create-to-Earn) system, where content creators create various works in the metaverse space, and users purchase and own the works. The transaction of works takes place based on NFT and blockchain, with all transactions recorded on the blockchain for increased transparency in transactions and settlements.
KRAFTON will be responsible for program development, including the development of sandbox tools and blockchain systems for creators, while NAVER Z will be responsible for service planning and partnership acquisition. The goal is to create synergy by combining KRAFTON's know-how in developing and operating various global games, such as "PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS," with NAVER Z's know-how in developing and operating the metaverse "ZEPETO," based on AR avatar services.
Henry Hyung-chul Park, head of the Migaloo project at KRAFTON, said, "After much consideration, we defined the core services and a specific model of the metaverse that is attractive and feasible, and proceeded with the establishment of the joint venture.” He also said, “As both companies have abundant experience in successful global content services and have united their efforts, we will definitely achieve good results."
Chang-wook Kim, CEO of NAVER Z, said, "The creator-centered ecosystem that we built in Zepto will also be implemented in Migaloo." He added, "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."
