Korea’s game publisher Nexon has joined the country’s biggest metaverse alliance backed by internet giant Naver and K-pop producer YG Entertainment with an investment of 15 billion won ($12.6 million).

According to industry sources on Sunday, YNC&S has recently attracted 15 billion won in investment from Nexon. YNC&S is a joint venture set up by YG Entertainment, Naver, WYSIWYG Studios, and NP to create infrastructure for a virtual studio.

Nexon’s participation comes at a time when race to build virtual studios for production of content using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies is intensifying among local major entertainment and technology companies. Emergen Research, a global market research firm, predicts that the global metaverse market will amount to $828.95 billion (987 trillion won) in 2028.

With Nexon joining, the country’s biggest metaverse alliance spans from drama and concert to games on virtual space.

YNC&S plans to build a new facility with a floor area of 50,000 square meters that houses two virtual effect studios and three mega studios at the cost of 250 billion won inside cultural complex Rhythm City inn Sangok-dong, Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi Province. Once the construction is complete, the alliance will produce content for video streaming services.

WYSIWYG Studios and NP, major players in Korea’s metaverse market, cooperate for technologies, such as content production on CG and VFX, and XR (Extended Reality) platforms. WYSIWYG Studios, famous for its unrivaled facial simulation technology, invited Com2uS as a new owner in August, last year. NP with outstanding XR technology, a key metaverse technology, has gained spotlights after it has participated in production of XR concerts for NCT Dream, NCT 127, Aespa, Simon Dominic, Yugyeom, and Neenalchi since the pandemic.

Entertainment and software industry are betting big on metaverse economy.

CJ ENM plans to build 13 studios including virtual ones inside a mega studio center with a floor area of 210,000 square meters in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, by early 2022. CJ ENM has an ambitious plan to use the new studios to produce content for global audiences in collaboration with U.S. content power Endeavor Content, producer of LaLa Land, that it recently acquired.

Netmarble F&C will build a VFX research center by the first half of 2022, while SK Telecom plans to broaden its business scope for Jump Studios, established in 2020 in collaboration with Microsoft.

VA Corporation, whose primary business is metaverse platforms, is attracting large-scale investment.

By Kang Doo-soon, Park Chang-young, Lim Young-shin, and Jenny Lee

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]