Bora Network Expands Ecosystem... Blockchain Competition in Gaming Industry Intensifies

New Game Lineup to Be Onboarded on the Blockchain Platform 'BORA' in the Second Half of the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Bora Network, the blockchain-based content platform operator under Kakao Games, is starting its global expansion through a 'cross-chain' strategy, beginning with collaboration with the blockchain 'Polygon.' With Kakao Games revealing its concrete blockchain blueprint, the blockchain competition in the gaming industry is intensifying.

Multiple Blockchain Games to Launch in Second Half of the Year... 'Shot To Earn' Project Also Introduced

According to the gaming industry on the 9th, Bora Network held the 'Bora NEXT' briefing on the 8th at 'Korea Blockchain Week 2022 (KBW2022),' Asia's largest blockchain event. The briefing was attended by Kakao Games CEO Jo Gye-hyun, MetaBora co-CEO Woo Sang-jun, Bora Network Chief Business Officer (CBO) Lim Young-jun, among others, who announced the future roadmap of the blockchain platform Bora (BORA).

On this day, CEO Jo introduced blockchain games to be onboarded to Bora in the second half of this year, including 'Buddy Shot,' XL Games' 'ArcheWorld,' and Rising Wings' 'Compete.' 'Buddy Shot' is a golf game utilizing Kakao Friends characters and achieved a sold-out success by issuing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for the first time with Kakao Friends characters.

Additionally, services planned for future onboarding were introduced, including ▲ casual battle game 'Bora Battle' (scheduled for release in Q4 2022) ▲ sports simulation 'Baseball The Block' (scheduled for release in April 2023) ▲ 'Friends Screen NFT' using screen golf (scheduled for release in March 2023).

A notable point is the ecosystem expansion to secure NFTs in the sports domain. Both 'Buddy Shot' and the tentative 'Baseball The Block' are sports-related projects. In particular, 'Friends Screen NFT' is a project linked with KakaoVX's screen golf infrastructure, embodying the concept of 'Shot To Earn' (earning money by playing golf). Various challenges such as course-specific tournaments will be presented in the in-store screen golf service, and participants who achieve excellent results will be rewarded with NFTs.

On the 8th, Jo Gye-hyun, CEO of Kakao Games, is giving a presentation at the 'BORA NEXT' meeting held at KBW2022.

Global Expansion through 'Cross-Chain' Strategy

Bora Network emphasized a cross-chain strategy to expand the Bora ecosystem by connecting with other blockchains. Cross-chain technology improves interoperability between different blockchains, allowing multiple blockchains to coexist and interact within a single service.

As the first collaboration, an agreement with Polygon was announced. Bora plans to expand the Polygon NFT ecosystem within the NFT marketplace on the Bora portal through this collaboration. Polygon will provide technical support to Bora and assist in onboarding partner companies and IP-based NFTs collaborating with Bora into the Polygon ecosystem, creating synergy.

MetaBora co-CEO Woo Sang-jun stated, "We recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with the blockchain network 'Polygon.' Partners engaged in gaming, sports, and fitness businesses will be able to connect Bora with other blockchains such as Polygon, Avalanche, Solana, and Polkadot."

Blockchain Competition in the Gaming Industry Intensifies

With Kakao Games entering the blockchain market, the blockchain competition in the gaming industry has officially begun.

Previously, Netmarble announced its global blockchain market strategy based on its proprietary currency-based blockchain ecosystem MBX (Mavericks) and its subsidiary Netmarble F&C's CUBE ecosystem. Mavericks, led by the headquarters, focuses on expanding the blockchain ecosystem centered on games developed and published by Netmarble. Through CUBE, led by the subsidiary Netmarble F&C, the strategy is to expand the model by combining blockchain with not only games but also metahuman, webtoons, web novels, and commerce.

Wemade and Com2uS have embarked on building their own mainnets. A mainnet is a system that creates an independent platform and ecosystem within a blockchain network. Building an independent mainnet itself is recognized as a demonstration of blockchain technology capability and capital strength. Moreover, having an independent mainnet allows much freer and more flexible operation compared to borrowing other mainnets.

Com2uS USA CEO Lee Kyu-chang, speaking as a presenter at KBW2022, plans to unveil the mainnet brand for the first time and introduce the features, future roadmap, and partners involved with the new mainnet. Wemade opened its testnet on the 1st of last month to test stability and plans to open its own mainnet as early as next month.

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