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South Korean AI game firm Verse8 raises $5m seed round
Verse8, a Seoul-based AI game creation platform, raised US$5 million in a seed round backed by Story Foundation and investors including Nexpace, Neowiz, and MARBLEX.
The company said the platform has reached over 3.5 million monthly active users across play and creation, supported by more than 5,000 active creators and 25,000 games generated since launching in stealth in July.
Creators can generate multiplayer games in minutes using natural language prompts without coding.
The startup was founded by JC Kim and Kevin Lee, with Jake Song as an advisor.
The funding will support AI development and expand creator onboarding and distribution.
🔗 Source: Verse8
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Verse8’s business model uses an on-chain IP layer
- Verse8 manages intellectual property across 25,000 games through Story Protocol, an on-chain system that registers IP and tracks ownership 1.
- It ties in-game items to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and supports on-chain licensing, which lets creators and IP holders track usage and royalties 2.
- In the live beta, users can make legal derivative works by remixing existing projects into new game variations 3.
Large gaming groups are backing AI-assisted game creation
- Nexpace, the Web3 arm of Nexon and the developer behind MapleStory Universe, announced a strategic investment in Verse8 4.
- Verse8 said its seed round also included MARBLEX, Netmarble’s Web3 arm, alongside Nexpace [summary].
- Verse8 founder JC Kim said generative AI could cut game development costs by up to 90% 5.
- This approach could turn static intellectual property into a licensing platform where IP holders earn royalties from assets used by AI-assisted creators 2.
- The model could lead to a market of fast prototypes and change how large franchises handle user-generated content and monetization.
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