Korean gaming giant WeMade leaves Klaytn to launch own Layer 1 blockchain

WeMade, a South Korea-based video game giant, will be launching a Layer 1 (L1) blockchain in the last quarter of this year. The company is known for Legend of Mir, a series of online games that boasts more than 500 million users, mostly in South Korea and China.

WeMade tower / Photo credit: WeMade

WeMade built its Web3 gaming network WeMix on Klaytn, a blockchain backed by internet conglomerate Kakao Group, as a side chain, but is now venturing out to launch its own L1. Migration of the network, which includes WeMix’s portfolio of 15 games and its native token, will commence in October.

The new WeMix chain competes in an increasingly crowded field of game-focused blockchains, which include Oasys (backed by Japanese gaming giants), Lamina1 (co-founded by author Neal Stephenson), Ronin (of Axie Infinity fame), Flow (known for NBA Topshot), and of course, Klaytn.

The departure of WeMix marks a loss for Klaytn, which rebranded itself as a Metaverse-focused blockchain at the beginning of the year. WeMix is one of Klaytn’s largest gaming partners and one of the first members of its governance council.

However, Sam Sangmin Seo, who leads Klaytn’s business and operations as “Chief Klaytn Officer,” says it’s business as usual at the blockchain, which has achieved “Ethereum equivalence” and is working on several initiatives geared towards metaverse development.

One of them is a set of open-source codes collectively termed the “Metaverse package,” which aims to improve the experience for developers using Klaytn. The other is interoperability standards for the behavior of game avatars across different Web3 games built on Klaytn.

Seo says that the team is bullish about Klaytn’s chances of becoming a leading metaverse blockchain, adding that its other gaming partners, such as South Korea’s largest mobile gaming company Netmarble, remain committed to the chain.

In August, Klaytn axed most of its global marketing team in Singapore to redirect efforts to its domestic market amid intensifying competition from global blockchains looking to cash in on the metaverse boom in South Korea.