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Let me begin this piece with an admission that I knew little to nothing about South Korea-based sport developer and writer Wemade earlier than I used to be supplied an interview with its CEO, Henry Chang, when he visited the UAE in August this yr. However my ignorance concerning the firm says extra about me not being a lot of a gamer, than something else- in spite of everything, Wemade is a publicly listed billion-dollar-business whose choices have been (and proceed to be) made use of by a whole lot of tens of millions of individuals around the globe. And when Chang tells me he was acknowledged by individuals on the streets of Dubai on account of the Wemade-branded jacket he was carrying on the time, it is greater than sufficient impetus for me to wish to study extra about him and his firm.
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Wemade is maybe greatest recognized for being the makers of the extremely profitable massively multiplayer on-line role-playing sport (MMORPG) sequence, Legend of Mir, which has followers from around the globe numbered within the a whole lot of millions- in reality, Chang proudly tells me that greater than 20 years after its launch, the title’s mental property continues to be as beloved by (and related to) avid gamers right this moment because it ever was. I discover this to be a sign of how Wemade has seemingly cracked the code of making one thing timeless, whereas additionally staying in tune with the times- and this may also be seen within the transformation it’s at the moment ongoing from being a standard online game firm to now turning into an open platform for blockchain video games.
For the uninitiated, blockchain video games are video video games that make use of blockchain-centered applied sciences like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of their gameplay. Presently a nascent business, Wemade has got down to place itself as a frontrunner on this house with the launch of Wemix, its open blockchain gaming platform, and its eponymous token. Whereas there are solely 17 video games hosted on Wemix as of October this yr, it is already house to a smash hit: MIR4 World.
Launched by Wemade in August final yr, MIR4 World went on to safe 20 million cumulative customers inside only a yr. MIR4 World’s success bodes properly for the blockchain gaming ecosystem, particularly contemplating that the sport reached 6.5 million month-to-month energetic customers in just some months, regardless of having no formal advertising campaigns to assist its launch. “I believe it is protected to say that MIR4 World is essentially the most profitable blockchain sport ever,” Chang says. “The sport proved that it’s doable to make an gratifying, well-made blockchain sport for gamers, a sport that folks would like to play not simply to earn cryptocurrencies, however for the sheer enjoyable of the gameplay.”
Notice right here Chang’s level about individuals desirous to play MIR4 World purely as a sport, and never only for the rewards it provides. This can be a big win for Wemade within the area of blockchain video games, and with a purpose to perceive why, Chang suggests beginning by inspecting what differentiates them from their “conventional” counterparts. “Blockchain video games are characterised by in-game property that current each financial worth and real-world use instances,” he explains. “Initially, conventional in-game property have been contained and trapped inside the sport. When these property are owned by the gamers as a substitute of the gaming firm, it offers them a way of possession. Customers can now freely and in a seamless method purchase, commerce, and stake their in-game property. These components set aside blockchain video games from conventional mainstream video games.”
Henry Chang, CEO, Wemade
Now, it is this chance to earn property in blockchain video games -usually cryptocurrency tokens of 1 type or the other- that has currently led to the eruption of the play-to-earn (P2E) mannequin on this panorama. “P2E was one of the crucial common key phrases within the gaming business final yr,” Chang notes. “Within the crypto market, it is handled as the subsequent huge factor. Though the inventory costs of the gaming industries in Korea are stagnant proper now as a consequence of microeconomic instabilities equivalent to inflation, final yr, the inventory costs of the sport corporations skyrocketed once they talked about the phrase P2E, NFT, or blockchain. The P2E mannequin has been popularized within the press and by some crypto communities largely as a result of these tokenomics-focused video games are designed to offer financial gain- earlier than the rest.”
And therein lies the issue that has materialized alongside the rise of the P2E mannequin within the gaming ecosystem. “Creating video games from the place of monetary engineering, versus from a sport developer’s perspective, has led to increased barrier to entry. Gamers persistently cashing out and never contributing to the ecosystem, and video games that misplaced their main leisure worth and felt extra like guide labor,” Chang explains. “P2E video games are additionally related to social points associated to gaming habit, and enjoying them as a full-time job deprives total societies of their human capital and negatively impacts their productiveness too.”
It’s to subvert such penalties that Chang is pushing for larger adoption of what Wemade is asking a play-and-earn-and-pay mannequin within the gaming sphere. “Due to the aforementioned points and extra, I don’t imagine a purely tokenomics-dependent P2E ecosystem is sustainable and scalable,” Chang says. “It’s then vital to return to the essence of gaming, which was at all times about bringing leisure worth with well-made video games. The play-and-earn-and-pay mannequin places well-made video games on the heart of ecosystem, and it gives the idea of a sustainable ecosystem by incentivizing customers who benefit from the sport to not simply play and earn cryptocurrencies or NFTs, however to take a position their earned tokens again into the ecosystem by upgrading their characters, and many others.”
This could clarify why Chang sees the success that MIR4 World has seen as such an ideal win for Wemade and the gaming panorama at large- the truth that it had greater than 1.4 million concurrent customers shortly after it launched is a testomony to the sheer prowess of the sport. “As many within the gaming business know, that is an distinctive end result for an MMORPG, which usually takes extra time to undergo and end the sport,” Chang provides. And Wemade is not sitting on its laurels- it is already pushed out its newest providing. “We not too long ago launched MIR M, the most recent spinoff of the Legend of Mir sequence domestically in June, with a world launch anticipated later this yr,” Chang says. “There was some nice preliminary response to MIR M, which makes me assured the worldwide model will do even higher than MIR4.”
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Established in 2000, Wemade is a global sport developer writer that has grown from a handful of passionate sport pioneers to a bunch of over 1,300 sport lovers. / Supply: Wemade
All of this are good tidings for the blockchain video games business as properly, Chang says. “Not solely does it show to the world that it’s doable to make well-made video games embedded with blockchain expertise, but it surely additionally reveals that avid gamers who’ve been accustomed to conventional Internet 2.0 video games for many years have embraced this new expertise with open arms as properly,” he says. This, in flip, is a shot within the arm for the wager Wemade has made on its Wemix platform. “As we additional broaden our Wemix platform ecosystem, we count on its a part of income will develop exponentially,” Chang says. “Though the platform’s income is weak now, I count on Wemix to be on the heart of our gross sales sooner or later. I firmly imagine we’re heading in the right direction to succeed as an open blockchain sport platform, equally to what Apple’s App Retailer and Google’s Play Retailer have achieved.”
At this level, Chang acknowledges that there stays a certain quantity of hesitancy towards blockchain video games from the normal gaming neighborhood at large- nevertheless, he additionally believes that it’ll subside as blockchain adoption turns into extra prevalent in our world. And that, he predicts, is when Wemade’s early funding on this house -i.e. Wemix- will enable it to grow to be the dominant international platform by default. “Our final aim is to create a mega ecosystem, and grow to be the Steam of blockchain video games,” Chang says- for the non-gamers studying this, Steam is the most important distributor of non-public pc video games on the planet right this moment.
“Yearly, there are round 50,000 information video games launched, and I imagine that within the close to future all these video games will probably be blockchain video games,” Chang continues. “In-game gadgets have at all times existed even in Internet 2.0 video games; nevertheless, with blockchain expertise, customers are capable of take these in-game gadgets out into the true world enhancing the consumer gaming expertise. By placing all our efforts into blockchain expertise, we intention at turning into the worldwide open blockchain sport platform by default, enabling a whole lot of recent video games to onboard our platform every year, and profit from blockchain expertise and our ecosystem even with out earlier information within the blockchain house.”
At this level, in case of any of you suppose that this can be a lofty ambition for Wemade to make in a fledgling business that has additionally been rocked not too long ago by a crypto winter, Chang is right here to assist disprove you of that notion. “Based mostly on my 26 years of expertise within the gaming business, I firmly imagine that blockchain gaming is the longer term,” Chang declares. “As a publicly traded firm with over 20 years of company historical past, Wemade is properly forward in comparison with its rivals, and we are going to put the whole lot now we have into holding it that method regardless of the present market situations.”
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Supply: MIR4 World
Chang admits right here that as a comparatively new expertise, blockchain nonetheless has a protracted method to go by way of rules, implications, and even applications- however from Wemade’s perspective, it represents a chance, moderately than a problem. “When Bitcoin was first launched in 2009, like many individuals within the gaming business, I did not imagine it was particular again then, and handled it like some kind of sport cash that gamers use in video games,” Chang remembers. “I, alongside a lot of my colleagues, thought we knew the whole lot about sport cash, and that it was absurd to make use of it outdoors video games and in actual life. However now, because of the few progressive individuals who acknowledged early the potential of the expertise, after which utilized it to develop enterprise options and industrial development, now we have arrived to the place we’re right this moment.”
Chang at the moment professes a steadfast perception within the potential (and energy) of blockchain, and that’s what he has channeled to guide Wemade by way of the instability that has been seen within the crypto panorama by way of the course of 2022. “Our response to the turbulence within the present market has been to deal with offering utility to the customers, and making extra investments and strategic partnerships to strengthen our place as a number one international open blockchain sport platform,” Chang says. “Even again in 2018, through the earlier crypto winter, we did not hand over, and we spent human sources into creating our blockchain expertise and providers; we proceed to do the identical even now.”
Chang speaks with the arrogance attained by working for 26 years in gaming- in reality, he began out within the business when he was nonetheless a senior in school. His first job was at Nexon, which was then a Seoul-based small enterprise with fewer than 10 employees- right this moment, nevertheless, it is likely one of the greatest sport corporations in South Korea, in addition to one of many greatest listed corporations in Japan. Following a protracted stint at Nexon, he joined one other sport writer, Neowiz, as its Chief Monetary Officer, after which turned Head of the Strategic Planning Division of Neowiz Video games, earlier than lastly happening to guide Neowiz Cellular as its Chief Govt Officer. Chang then joined Wemade in 2013, and he was appointed its CEO a yr later.
Chang’s profession trajectory ought to make it clear that he’s somebody who’s extraordinarily well-versed with the business he operates in, and that ought to function motive sufficient for why his viewpoint on the potential blockchain presents on this panorama should not be taken calmly. “What’s attention-grabbing is that as somebody who spent his total profession within the gaming business, there isn’t a doubt that role-playing video games, just like the MMORPG Legend of Mir sequence, already present the same idea to a metaverse, and it’s attention-grabbing to see how the remainder of the world is now embracing this new expertise and idea,” Chang says. “I imagine on the coronary heart of the metaverse are video games, and that there are a number of thrilling new developments to occur within the house inside the close to future.”
Supply: Wemix
Chang reveals right here that the MENA figures strongly in Wemade’s aspirations for the longer term, and he factors out that MIR4 World has been capable of create a powerful fanbase within the area. “MIR4 World ranked first throughout the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar amongst role-playing video games on the Google Play Retailer again in March 2022, and it has succeeded in sustaining its high three rank in a number of MENA markets even now,” Chang says.
“As well as, the MENA is vital from a blockchain improvement standpoint. The MENA provides licenses for crypto coin platforms, and we’re within the means of making use of for one. As soon as accomplished, we are going to transfer a few of our improvement crew to the area, and develop a state-ofthe- artwork blockchain platform and crypto hub.”
And it is not simply a rise within the Wemade consumer base that Chang hopes to see ensuing from the MENA- he is additionally hoping to see an increase within the variety of stakeholders from the area as properly. “Wemade is a listed firm in South Korea, and I want to invite MENA institutional and retail traders to purchase our shares and our WEMIX coin, which is listed in additional than 25 exchanges around the globe,” Chang says. “I imagine each Wemade’s inventory and the WEMIX coin current very enticing funding alternatives, as they’re each liquid and under-valued contemplating their big progress potential. I actually have been shopping for WEMIX coin with my wage and bonus earnings from the marketplace for the final seven consecutive months, and I don’t intend to cease till I retire; I additionally haven’t and won’t promote a single WEMIX coin.”
It is attention-grabbing to notice right here that the conviction with which Chang speaks about Wemade’s endeavors within the blockchain gaming house today- it’s actually in stark distinction to the attitude with which they had been seen when the corporate was simply beginning out on them. “For the primary three-and-a-half years, our blockchain gaming enterprise did not appear like a lot from the surface,” he says. “However when MIR4 turned the primary industrial hit globally in August 2021, I used to be very thrilled to understand that I have been proper all alongside. And through the previous yr, the joy has been rising inside me every single day, at each second.”
Chang is thus watching with glee because the constructing blocks of a brand new digital blockchain-centric economic system involving NFTs, decentralized asset organizations (DAOs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and extra get put into place, and when all of it truly comes collectively, he’s aiming for Wemade “to grow to be the dominant open blockchain sport platform, because the primary international mainnet.” Chang not too long ago revealed particulars about WEMIX$, the stablecoin of its mainnet Wemix 3.0, throughout his keynote speech on the TOKEN2049 occasion held in Singapore in September. “Stablecoins have to be secure,” he stated. “That is the primary requirement. WEMIX$ meets that by way of 100% USDC [a digital stablecoin pegged to the United States dollar] reserve.”
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Wemade has continued to develop and repair dozens of PC and Cellular primarily based video games for fun-loving avid gamers since its inception.
Following that, Chang continued by itemizing “secure/native coin reflexivity” as a second requirement for a profitable stablecoin. “When a stablecoin is doing properly, it ought to have an effect on the native coin,” he defined. “The native coin should have the ability to seize the demand and commerce of stablecoin. Thus, the reflexive relationship between stablecoin and native coin have to be structured.” As a 3rd and remaining requirement, Chang listed scalability, which WEMIX$ secures by way of Wemade’s DIOS protocol, which, in flip, will let it broaden based on the ecosystem’s progress.
The aspirations Chang has for Wemade, together with the outcomes it has already achieved with him at its helm, additionally function a testomony to his management of the corporate, which, by the way in which, is a realization of a childhood dream he needed to run “an enormous, nice firm.” “There’s an previous saying that ‘good issues take time,'” Chang says. “Once I make plans for enterprise and new expertise that can decide the longer term, I attempt to suppose for the long run, like, say, in ten-year durations. In 2018, all gaming corporations had been eager about blockchain video games, and a few entered the market. However all of them gave up through the crypto winter that occurred afterward. Wemade was virtually the one firm that saved up, as a result of we thought it would take ten years to succeed from the beginning. I imagine that organising your imaginative and prescient, crafting your methods, and taking steps to attain your aim in the long term is the important thing to the success and progress of your organization.”
That is clearly the identical imaginative and prescient that’s governing Chang as he oversees Wemade’s ongoing investments within the crypto realm. “We’re making investments in blockchain corporations and initiatives with nice potentials everywhere in the world, and now we have been fairly profitable in our endeavors, to place it mildly,” Chang explains. “We’ve been making important investments in blockchain and sport corporations to broaden our Wemix ecosystem from its present gamecentric method to later embody all different varieties of x-to-earn fashions, equivalent to move-to-earn, watch-to-earn and many others. To take action, we make investments and are closely concerned within the improvement of our portfolio of startups, primarily based on our business information and blockchain experience. The newest examples of such investments had been within the luxurious style metaverse ALTAVA’s TAVA coin, and the watch-to-earn short-form platform CELEBe’s FANC coin, and SNKRZ, a subsequent technology move-to-earn venture.”
Wemade is thus all set to proceed its daring foray into the world of blockchain, however I can not assist however level out to Chang that questions and doubts proceed to rise concerning the expertise’s purposes in the true world. Chang replies that he can determine with this sentiment- he too has wrestled with this question at one time limit, however he additionally believes he has discovered a response to it within the business he operates in. “For me, personally, an important query that each cryptocurrency has to reply is: ‘The place is that this going for use?'” The query remains to be legitimate now, and there are a lot of cash on the market that also cannot reply this query. I discovered that the reply lies inside games- and that is after I turned sure that cryptocurrencies will flourish in video games… When skeptics ask, ‘The place can we use cryptocurrency?’, video games can present solutions,” Chang concludes.
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