Zepeto, an avatar app backed by South Korea’s largest internet service provider Naver Corp., is adding metaverse studio to invite creation and production of games based on avatars.

Naver Z, operating Zepeto app for a shared virtual space where 3-D animated avatars created by app users to interact with others within a digital world, is preparing to add a feature for creating customized games, according to IT industry sources on Tuesday.

Launched in 2018, Zepeto has over 200 million global users accessing over 20,000 “maps” or virtual spaces under various themes such as café and amusement park.

Zepeto users, 90 percent logged in from overseas and teens making up 80 percent, can personalize avatars and create maps for customized virtual experience. The users, however, are unable to design their own games, such as racing and shooting, unlike U.S. metaverse leader Roblox.

Maps with games are among Zepeto’s most popular virtual spaces. The Jump Start Master map where virtual players leap, slide and dodge obstacles to make escape has attracted some 41 million users since release in February.

Naver Z has pitched Zepeto as a world that is created together with users. In April last year, it launched Zepeto Studio where users can create virtual items and trade them for Zepeto’s virtual currencies Coin and Zem. Zepeto Studio is used by over 700,000 users so far, who have created nearly 2 million items.

Roblox, one of the most popular gaming sites among children in the world, has more than 50 million games and the number is growing fast with players actively developing new games.

By Lim Young-shin and Cho Jeehyun

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