Japan’s leading gaming blockchain Oasys has announced a partnership with South Korean tech company SK Planet, which is a SK Telecom subsidiary.

As one of South Korea’s leading IT companies, SK Planet will also become Oasys’ latest validator. This means users will be able to stake OAS tokens directly to the SK Planet node directly from their wallets, as SK Planet’s wallet service UPTN Station is set to integrate Oasys Hub. UPTN Station will also integrate into games on Oasys L2 chains. 

Aiming to onboard more users to web3 games, Oasys will leverage SK Planet’s large user base. Notably, it will tap into OK Cashbag, which is operated by SK Planet, and is affiliated with 75,000 stores including 28 million members part of the South Korean market.

One result of the partnership will be a new channel designed for gamers. UPTN Station’s upcoming community features will also expose users to various gaming content on Oasys, with campaigns aimed to drive user engagement in web3.

SK Planet team leader, Jung Incheul, commented, “We hope that this business agreement will allow customers to enjoy the web3 environment more easily and conveniently. We expect great synergy in the future as we combine the capabilities of both companies, such as introducing Oasys network’s content IP to customers through the UPTN Station.” 

“This partnership will revolutionize web3 adoption in South Korea,” said Oasys director Daiki Moriyama.

“Game developers will gain access to a massive platform for exposure, while gamers themselves get to enjoy a richer variety of content.”

The announcement comes as some of the most anticipated games on Oasys, Double Jump’s Battle of Three Kingdoms and Ubisoft’s Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles, are gearing up for launch.

Com2uS has unveiled plans for a community hub called PLAY3.

Designed to lower entry barriers into web3, PLAY3 will enable users to engage with financial blockchain services, such as as NFT minting, staking, and item trading, through simple gamified experiences. This erases the need for complex financial knowledge to integrate with web3. Deploying on Com2uS’ gaming dedicated blockchain XPLA, it will also offer real-world rewards. 

PLAY3’s main focus however seems to be community engagement. To this end it will promote communication and networking between users, who can interact via the PLAY3 square. Part of this initiative is also encouraging interoperability, letting users move between different games onboarded to XPLA mainnet, and seamlessly bring items and assets collected within one game across to others. 

Among the current titles on XPLA are Summoners War: Chronicles, Ace Fishing: Crew, Heir of Light: Eclipse, The Walking Dead: All-Stars, and the most recently launched Code Caching.

Looking to begin beta testing during Q4 2024, PLAY3 hopes for future growth through regular updates and new content and games.

It also promises a simple NFT customization service using its PAL bear character.

Com2uS Holdings blockchain division head, Jayden Jang, commented, “In the evolving landscape of web3, many projects face significant hurdles in community building, effective tokenomics, and minimizing entry barriers. Our PLAY3 initiative is designed to address these challenges head-on, offering a pioneering template for future web3 services.”

XPLA team leader, Paul Kim, added, “We are excited about Com2uS Group’s innovative web3 offerings, which we believe will serve as a key catalyst for growth and community engagement within the XPLA ecosystem.”

You can check out the PLAY3 hub here >>

Building up towards its Q3 2024 launch, Immortal Rising 2 has mustered over 400,000 pre-registrations within a week. 

Developed by South Korea-based Bad Beans and published by Planetarium Labs – a company which has already gained momentum with web3 RPG series Nine Chronicles – the idle AFK action RPG Immortal Rising 2 is also getting a marketing boost thanks to deploying on Immutable’s zkEVM chain.

As part of the pre-reg campaign, users signing up early via app stores can also claim 3,000 Equipment Summons.

To a larger extent however, engagement is driven by various quests, allowing users to earn ORBs for completing missions such as following social channels and inviting friends. ORB is a resource that can later be converted to Immortal tokens, IMT, which is slated for launch during Q4 2024. 

Serving as a governance token, IMT will enable holders to participate in the game’s design. It also grants eligibility to earning rewards through staking. More than that however, the tokens will also be used for in-game transactions. 

Additionally, ORB “may grant early or exclusive access to events, special releases, and limited-time offers.” Following game launch, it can also be obtained through various in-game quests.

In terms of the game itself, Immortal Rising 2 is a web3 mobile-based dark fantasy idle RPG, and a sequel to the highly popular web2 RPG Immortal Rising. Unveiled at the Web3 Game Unplugged event in 2023, it’s backed by Animoca Brands, among others.

Stay up-to-date via the official Immortal Rising 2 website and X channnel.

Haru Invest CEO Hugo Hyungsoo Lee was attacked during his ongoing fraud trial at the Seoul Southern District Court, local media outlet Digital Asset reported on Aug. 28.

According to the report, a man identified as “Kang” stabbed Lee multiple times in the neck with a concealed 5 cm knife.

While courtroom guards quickly subdued Kang, Lee was reportedly seen bleeding on the floor. He was taken to a nearby hospital, and his current condition remains unclear.

Meanwhile, authorities have confirmed that Kang, arrested at the scene, is one of Haru Invest’s victims and is now under investigation.

Haru Invest issues

This incident adds to the growing troubles surrounding Haru Invest.

Last year, the platform suspended user withdrawals, blaming false information from an unnamed consignment operator. Concerns escalated when the company shut its Seoul office and deleted its YouTube and LinkedIn profiles, sparking rumors of fraud and a potential rug pull, which the company vehemently denied.

Despite this, Haru’s failure to reopen withdrawals or provide a clear explanation has fueled further speculation and regulatory scrutiny.

In February 2024, South Korean prosecutors arrested three Haru executives, including the co-CEOs, for allegedly embezzling approximately $826 million from 16,000 users. The executives are accused of misleadingly promoting a “risk-free diversified investment strategy” while investing most customer deposits.

Meanwhile, Haru’s issues have also affected another South Korean crypto lending platform, Delio, which authorities are now investigating.

South Korea’s crypto relationship

South Korea ranks among the top countries globally in crypto adoption, driven primarily by retail investors. Institutional and foreign investors face restrictions, limiting their participation.

Chainalysis reported that from July 2022 to June 2023, South Korea received over $111.82 billion in crypto value. This is the highest amount in East Asia, surpassing the region’s largest economies in Japan and China.

In response, South Korea has taken a proactive approach to crypto regulation. The country aims to set high standards to protect industry users while positioning itself as a leader in managing the challenges within the crypto industry.

South Korean outfit Wemade recently made several announcements as part of its Wemix day.

Some key introductions included:

• Wemix Pay
• PLAY token 
• New games

Wemix Pay is a new payment system for the Wemix platform that will reward users with Prime Points. These can be used to access VIP passes, NFTs and airdrops. Scheduled to launch in H2 2024, Wemix Pay will also be integrated into major Wemix Play games and serve as a way to drive utility and demand.

Another addition will be the PLAY token. This is tied to actual in-game revenue and will only be minted when someone uses Wemix Pay. It will be required to buy some items in games such as Night Crows. The PLAY tokens are then burned and not recirculated, in order to prevent inflation. PLAY tokens can be earned alongside Prime Points through Wemix Pay.

These new and revamped features are part of Wemix’s new strategic direction, announced ahead of Wemix Day. In essence, it entails a refocus from high-volume to fewer but more high-quality games.

To this end, Wemade announced new games including web3-native Legend of Ymir and an MMORPG from Mir4’s developers called Project M. These won’t be released until late 2025 and 2026. In addition, RPG Crystal of Naramunz will launch on Wemix in early 2025, while Meta Toy DragonZ Saga will migrate from Immutable.

Finally, Wemix will launch its Wepublic voting and donation system in 2025, so charitable organizations can raise money by creating DAOs and engaging with the Wemix community.

South Korean lawmakers have proposed a bill to delay the implementation of crypto gain tax until 2028.

The ruling political party proposed the bill on July 12, citing the current negative sentiments around the crypto industry as the reason for the extension. They stated:

“With investment sentiment toward virtual assets deteriorating, some argue that hasty taxation of virtual assets is not desirable right now, as virtual assets are high-risk assets with a higher risk of loss than stocks, and if income tax is also imposed, most investors are expected to leave the market.”

Initially, South Korea planned to implement its crypto gain tax on January 1, 2025. However, if the new bill is passed, the implementation date will shift to January 1, 2028. The sub-committee met on July 15 to continue the review.

The move aligns with President Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign promises. He assured voters he would extend the crypto gains tax during the last general election if elected. His administration aims to create a clear regulatory framework before implementing the tax.

However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has not decided on the delay. The ministry plans to announce new tax policy amendments by the end of the month.

“No decision has been made regarding whether to further postpone the implementation of virtual asset income taxation,” a ministry spokesperson said.

South Korea’s thriving crypto industry

South Korea has one of the fastest-growing adoptions of the emerging industry globally.

During the first quarter of this year, blockchain platform Kaiko reported that the Asian country’s national currency, Won, emerged as the leading currency for global crypto trades, with a cumulative trade volume of $456 billion on centralized exchanges.

Furthermore, the Asian country is a shining light for its proactive approach to crypto regulation. South Korea has implemented several rules designed to enhance consumer protection standards for crypto users within its jurisdiction.

During 2023 a few leading traditional gaming studios announced their venture into web3. One of them, South Korea-based Nexon and its subsidiary Nexpace is merging the popular MapleStory IP with blockchain technology. The first game to come from this initiative is PC-based MMORPG MapleStory N, which recently rolled out its inaugural community quests.

We thought it a good time to chat to Nexpace executive director Sunyoung Hwang about why Nexon chose to integrate web3 into MapleStory, why it’s leaving Polygon for Avalanche, and its blockchain vision.

BlockchainGamer: Why do you think the MapleStory IP is a good fit for blockchain?

Sunyoung Hwang: MapleStory, which is the basis of our MapleStory Universe project, is an online MMORPG with 180 million users worldwide. It has a strong IP fan base thanks to the more than 50 million active users playing the game for more than a decade.

Throughout this long and successful run, we realized that a game is not just about the developer and players, but also about the various creations and activities that the community creates in addition to the official content and that the total game experience includes all of these activities. Therefore, we came to a decision that MapleStory IP was the perfect fit to leverage blockchain technology to continuously expand the IP experience and create an ecosystem where community members voluntarily participate.  

What has the reaction of current MapleStory players been to the introduction of blockchain to the IP?

In February of this year, we conducted a focus group test (FGT) for MapleStory N with about 400 people. At the time, many said that it was difficult to see the difference between MapleStory N and MapleStory before level 30, as minting is only made available after level 30. 

However, as users adapted to the system, they shared positive feedback on the tight competition and changing demands for enhancements that come with limited items.

They felt the fun of a true MMORPG through the experience of competing with other users for limited items, and that blockchain technology seemed to be naturally integrated. We continue to actively collect user feedback to make it easier for those who are new to web3 games to enjoy the game. 

Why is it important that MapleStory Universe is an ecosystem including games, UGC and developer tools? Why not just make a game with tokens and NFTs?

NFTizing game items with blockchain technology means, individual users can own game assets privately and can consume them in various ways outside of the game. Ultimately, it’s important for NFTized assets to have extended utility outside of the game. For this, it is not enough to simply add NFTs, but to build a world where NFTs owned by individuals can be utilized in various ways within an IP ecosystem (MSU) that extends beyond the game.

We believe that such ecosystems should be built by the self-sustaining power of the community through various contribution and reward structures based on blockchain technology. User Generated Content (UGC) and development tools will play a very essential role in building such an ecosystem.

MapleStory Universe was announced to deploy on Polygon. Why did you decide to migrate to Avalanche instead?

As our game and ecosystem launch was just around the corner, we needed practical help in both the technological and operational aspects of running a large-scale game on blockchain. With several references and a solid track record in the blockchain gaming industry, we believed that Avalanche has a speciality in this segment and this naturally led us to our strategic collaboration. 

How do you plan to ensure that the game’s blockchain assets have fundamental value for players and aren’t just speculative?

As mentioned earlier, when in-game assets are turned into NFTs, they become privately owned assets and have extended value in the broader MapleStory Universe ecosystem. This expansion fundamentally strengthens the value of in-game item assets through blockchain technology.

Thus, items originally used solely for battling monsters within the game can now find new uses in external services, limited only by the community’s creativity.

A lot has happened in the year since you announced MapleStory Universe. How have the market conditions impacted your vision?

As the crypto market has generally recovered at the end of 2023, expectations for the web3 game market seem to be rising at the same time. 

However, we are not dependent on this market environment and aim to be firmly competitive in any environment. As our ultimate goal is building games, we will continue to drive efforts to ensure our users have a fun and satisfying experience with our creations, as well as innovation and vision to support this interest.

You’ve announced your first community-building quests. How do you hope they will help you build a community?

The “Quest” system in the MapleStory Universe: The Genesis campaign, which started on June 24, is the starting point for the core theme of contribution and reward in MapleStory Universe. There are two scopes of contribution through Quests, which are categorized into General Quest and Community Quest.  

• General Quest is a service we are building in collaboration with Galxe that allows users to automatically obtain points for every quest they complete.  
• Community Quest would be the part for the upcoming Maple Spread Legion (MSL). Through this program, users will be able to create and share content about the MapleStory Universe and be rewarded for their contributions.  

Essentially, no matter what activity it is, coming up with new ways to encourage users to contribute is the key to the ecosystem’s sustainability. We will continue to discuss internally how to scale this up. In the long run, we believe the future growth of the community and the direction of travel for the IP will align as more users emphasize our vision and actively participate in ecosystem activities. 

Find out more at the MapleStory Universe website.

Line’s web3 subsidiary Line Next has partnered with South Korean game company Smilegate.

Based on Line Next’s web3 gaming platform DOSI, the companies will integrate an NFT marketplace into Smilegate’s forthcoming MMORPG Lord Nine, which is due to launch across PC and mobile in H2 2024.

First launching in Taiwan in September, the marketplace will then roll out more functions alongside the regional expansion of Lord Nine. Starting today however, Taiwanese players can pre-register for Lord Nine and get rewards such as a Medium Item Box that can be used in the game, LINE Points, and Kaia tokens.

Following the launch, players will only be able to access Lord Nine NFTs via their game accounts linked to the DOSI marketplace, which will facilitate payments via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and DOSI’s Kaia tokens. 

Further down the line, the game will also offer special in-game features and other benefits to its NFT holders. 

In December 2023, Line Next announced it had raised $140 million to accelerate the growth of its DOSI blockchain gaming platform. While Nine Lords is the first to be announced – the company is looking to collaborate with more games of various genres to design and facilitate NFT integration and other web3 features via DOSI.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) plans to tighten oversight of crypto trading platforms under its jurisdiction to eliminate fraudulent transactions.

In a July 4 notice, the regulator announced that local exchanges must establish a “continuous monitoring system for unfair transactions” and report “abnormal transactions” via a dedicated transmission line.

According to the notice:

“To ensure that virtual asset exchanges can smoothly fulfill their legal obligations, the Financial Supervisory Service has jointly prepared the ‘Abnormal Transaction Monitoring Guidelines’ with exchanges and supported the establishment and operation of a regular abnormal transaction surveillance system.”

The new system will go live on July 19, coinciding with the implementation of South Korea’s first regulatory framework for crypto investor protection, the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.

Mass token delisting unlikely

In a parallel development, the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) and 20 local exchanges have addressed fears of a possible token mass delisting with the “Best Practices for Supporting Digital Asset Transactions” guideline.

In their July 2 statement, DAXA stated that the guideline provides a framework for exchanges to review and delist digital assets. The guideline would allow a more lenient review plan for assets that have traded for over two years in “eligible overseas virtual asset markets with sufficient regulation.”

Earlier reports suggested that South Korean exchanges would review the listing of over 1,000 altcoins in the next six months to ensure regulatory compliance. This raised concerns within the crypto community about potential mass delistings of as many as 600 coins.

Meanwhile, these regulatory moves further reflect South Korea’s proactive approach to crypto regulation. The Asian country aims to set high standards for exchange operations and consumer protection, positioning it as a leader in managing the crypto industry’s challenges.

Market observers noted that the regulatory changes will enhance market stability, protect investors, and deter financial crimes in the crypto sector.

South Korean gaming outfit Netmarble has announced that its Marblex blockchain platform is being migrated over to Immutable zkEVM.

Currently running on Klaytn, all assets will be moved over, including three live web2 games with web3 integration – Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, A3: Still Alive and Meta World: My City.

The news followed Netmarble’s enthusiastic entry into the sector where it experimented with plenty of game launches in 2022 and 2023. However, these didn’t seem to attract much sustained activity. Recent partnerships with the likes of Aptos and Saga also failed to kickstart its endeavours.

In that context, moving everything over to the Immutable zkEVM ecosystem should allow Marblex to focus on its core products. As well as games, the platform currently consists of the MBX token – which is down 97% from its all-time high – a wallet, decentralized exchange, token staking features and an NFT marketplace.

Indeed, as part of the deal, Netmarble and Immutable will invest $20 million into a specific ecosystem fund – the Ecosystem Boost Program – which will provides technical and financial support for developers. 

“At MARBLEX we are committed to building exciting web3 gaming experiences for players,” said CEO Hong Jin Pyo.

“To maximise the reach of these experiences and ensure scalability for both existing and upcoming titles, partnering with a proven leader in web3 gaming was crucial. That’s why Immutable and their industry-leading zkEVM chain was the right choice. Their technology provides the infrastructure we need to deliver the best possible gaming experiences to our players.“ 

South Korean web3 game developer Delabs Games has unveiled new strategic partnerships with web3 gaming companies including Ambrus Studio, Cow Cup and Proof of Play.

In a mutual quest, Delabs and E4C: Final Salvation-developer Ambrus Studio have announced a deal to “share resources” between their games. As well as offering strategic support, Ambrus Studio founder and gaming veteran Johnson Yeh will also onboard Delabs as an advisor. Yeh brings his experience in esports, having formerly been Riot Games’ managing director for Greater China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, contributing to the success of League of Legends and Valorant. 

Another partnership is with little known developer Cow Cup and its mobile-based battle royale MOBA Counter Fire. This collaboration entails cross-community airdrop campaigns such as Delabs Games’ Ladybug’s Journey and Counter Fire‘s Hill’s Treasure Hunt.

Additionally, Delabs’ platinum tickets and golden tickets will be airdropped to the Counter Fire community, while Counter Fire’s Founder’s Tag will be integrated into Delabs’ upcoming airdrop event part 3. Delabs community members joining Counter Fire’s pre-season testing will also be whitelist to the project’s Genesis Heroes mint.

The news follows Delabs’ recent announcement it’s moving all of its portfolio games to Arbitrum, having previously deployed its inaugural lawnmower racer Rumble Racing Star on Polygon. Initially only available for PC, the game’s now also expanded to mobile. The studio’s second game, Metabolts, is a dystopian character collection RPG, while the third title, space-themed survival game Space Frontier is still in development.

Following its move to Arbitrum, Delabs has also joined forces with Arbitrum-based RPG Pirate Nation from Proof of Play, airdropping Platinum tickets to holders of Gen 0 Pirate NFT holders, which give a 30% boost to leaderboard points in Rumble Racing Star.