SKT Ifland Celebrates 1st Anniversary... Achieves 8.7 Million Cumulative Downloads

Introduction of User Reward System
Global Market Expansion in the Second Half of the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] SK Telecom announced on the 13th that its extended virtual world (metaverse) platform 'ifland,' which is one day away from its first anniversary, has recorded a cumulative 8.7 million downloads. Ifland plans to introduce a user reward system and expand its stage to the global market in the second half of this year.

Ifland was launched on July 14 last year. The name embodies the meaning of a space (land) where countless possibilities (if) of anyone wanting to become, do, meet, and go come true.

Ifland recorded 280,000 downloads in its first month, and the cumulative downloads increased to about 2.9 million by December last year, just six months after launch. As of last month, cumulative downloads exceeded 8.7 million. It has also received over 2,000 partnership love calls from companies, institutions, and organizations. SK Telecom explained that it is the only domestic metaverse platform equipped with live video streaming functionality and can accommodate up to 131 participants in a single land (room), making it an optimized platform for metaverse gatherings, which has contributed to its word-of-mouth popularity.

Although the use of non-face-to-face services decreased after social distancing measures due to COVID-19 were lifted in April this year, the average monthly user stay time on Ifland actually increased. The average monthly stay time, which was 55 minutes as of March this year, rose by about 10% to 61 minutes last month. This is thanks to hosting events such as concerts, exhibitions, auditions on Ifland, the opening of a metaverse university campus, and continuous coverage of the presidential election vote counting broadcast.

To mark the first anniversary of Ifland’s launch, SK Telecom declared the evolution to the 'Ifland 2.0' phase and plans to add new features to enhance user participation within the third quarter. Users will be rewarded with points that can be used like cash for activities such as attendance and mission completion, and an internal economic system will be gradually introduced, including a function to support hosts who organize metaverse gatherings.

An open 3D content platform will also be introduced, allowing users to design and produce costumes and items themselves and generate revenue by selling them. SK Telecom expects creators and influencers who earn money through content, similar to YouTube, to emerge on Ifland as well.

The company plans to spread its Ifland operational experience and know-how to leading telecommunications companies in major global regions such as Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia. Ifland will be launched sequentially in key regions during the second half of the year. SK Telecom CEO Yoo Young-sang expressed his ambition in March this year to expand Ifland to 80 countries worldwide within the year. Last month, the English version of Ifland was completed. Additionally, the PC version of Ifland will be released within the third quarter to improve service accessibility and convenience.

Yang Maeng-seok, head of SK Telecom’s Metaverse Company, said, "Ifland has grown into a representative social metaverse over the past year, receiving great love from a wide range of age groups and many companies and organizations," adding, "We will enrich the metaverse ecosystem further by introducing upgraded features and content."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.