Published on: 25/03/2022

PUBG developer to partner with Solana Labs, creating NFT-based games, blockchain system

KRAFTON, a South Korean video game distribution company known for developing a multiplatform global hit video game title, PUBG: Battlegrounds, has announced their recent business partnership with Solana Labs in developing “blockchain- and NFT-based games and services”.

KRAFTON explained the partnership in a press release on their website explaining more about the long-term agreement.

“Solana is the world’s most performant blockchain. It gives developers the confidence to build for the long term by delivering predictable scaling without compromising security or composability,” reads the press release.

“Solana’s performance is driven by a single global state, which is capable of processing tens of thousands of smart contracts at once, and by Proof of History, a distributed clock that unlocks low-latency, sub-second finality across the global state.”

KRAFTON, Solana long-term partnership

Both parties appear to be excited about working together with each other in the long term. Additionally, the agreement entails that the two will also be responsible for not only designing blockchain games but also in marketing alongside joint cooperation on investment opportunities.

KRAFTON lead of Web 3.0 Roundtable Hyungchul Park added the company is keen on establishing its own robust Web 3.0 ecosystem and in doing so, Solana is considered as one of the best blockchain supporting builder companies which could help KRAFTON in its quest to accelerate in more investments and “output of blockchain-based experiences”.

“KRAFTON will continuously see ways to work closely with blockchain companies like Solana Labs as we work toward establishing our Web 3.0 ecosystem,” Park said.

“As one of the best global high-performance blockchain with strength in high speed and low fees, Solana represents the best of the Web 3.0 ecosystem and its technologies. Through this cooperation, KRAFTON will acquire the insight needed to accelerate its investment in and output of blockchain-based experiences.”

PUBG integration with blockchain

KRAFTON mentioned investment in light of its partnership with Solana. This could potentially refer to the company’s share price. According to The Financial Times, KRAFTON’s share price encountered a steep decline this year following strong competition from Chinese companies.

KRAFTON’s Chinese rivals have been “expanding” to KRAFTON’s home market of South Korea due to a regulatory crackdown back in Beijing. In spite of the steep declining share price, KRAFTON’s answer to this is by pushing play-to-earn P2E titles integrated with the blockchain technology set to be released on the market.

Therefore, that is where Solana comes in as KRAFTON is expanding its reach to cooperate with blockchain companies. Solana head of games business development Johnny Lee, also expressed their excitement working with the South Korean company.

“We’re excited by KRAFTON’s commitment to build the future of gaming on Solana,” Lee said. “KRAFTON is an established innovator in the games industry and we are excited to be part of their next level up. We are seeing gamers increasingly seek out on-chain games and gaming companies who respond quickly to this demand will set themselves up well for ongoing success.”

However, KRAFTON is yet to confirm which of its titles will be affected by the partnership. But many speculated the developer hit title PUBG could be integrated with blockchain technology following the game’s popularity on PC and mobile.