It’s probably not a surprise that Krafton, the studio behind global smash-hit PUBG: Battlegrounds, is getting into the blockchain business, but that is indeed what’s happening here. It’s now partnered with Solana Labs “to support the design and marketing of blockchain-based games and services.”
“Solana is the world’s most performant blockchain,” the press release touts. We don’t know what Krafton will be building off of Solana’s blockchain, but we can expect more than one project. This is the start of “a long-term cooperative relationship” for the two companies. They won’t just work together on blockchain-based games, but on other investment opportunities as well.
As you’d expect, both companies are excited about the partnership. “Solana represents the best of the web 3.0 ecosystem and its technologies,” said Krafton’s web 3.0 roundtable lead Hyungchul Park. Solana Labs’ head of games business development Johnny Lee said that the team is “seeing gamers increasingly seek out on-chain games and gaming companies who respond quickly to this demand.” Sluggish sales from the likes of Ubisoft Quartz’ NFT marketplace would say otherwise, but that’s for these new partners to find out for themselves.
Beyond this partnership, it’s been a busy year for Krafton. The company sued PUBG clone Garena Free Fire on grounds of plagiarism at the start of the year. It’s also been bolstering its own games with new content. PUBG: Battlegrounds added a handy Tactical Backpack in a recent update, while PUBG Mobile just celebrated its fourth anniversary.
