"Like Playing a Game: Namgung Hoon Forms a Special Team for PlayChat"

Reorganized Play Chat Unit into CIC... Namgung Hoon's Team Positioned
Aiming to Reproduce Success for Each Game with Game-Based Communication Service

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] KakaoTalk, which facilitates everyday communication, is expanding into a new communication platform based on games. A service will be launched where each user becomes the protagonist in a vast game-like universe, engaging in conversations with AI-based virtual humans and other users, enjoying it like a game.

According to the IT industry on the 1st, Kakao reorganized the 'Roleplay Chatting Task Force (TF)' into an in-house independent company (CIC) called the 'Play Chatting Unit' last May. The special team, originally formed around personnel who developed 'KakaoTalk Gamebyeol' during CEO Namgung Hoon's time at Kakao Games, was incorporated into a formal organization. Based on experiments conducted in Gamebyeol, Kakao is aiming to replicate success by integrating game elements into KakaoTalk chatting.

The Play Chatting Unit is developing 'Roleplay Chatting,' a service that transfers role-playing games (RPG) into a chat service. The plan is to create a new communication service with keywords such as 'multi-persona,' artificial intelligence (AI), and text-based chatting. The concept involves setting characters within a story-driven universe and conversing with virtual characters. Since it encompasses text, images, and videos, it can be combined with the metaverse (extended virtual world).

CEO Namgung converted the TF into a CIC to accelerate the commercial service schedule. CICs establish independent business and personnel strategies and operate autonomously. Currently, Kakao has two CICs: the Commerce CIC, which was separated from the headquarters business division last month, and the Play Chatting Unit. This indicates that following commerce, a major cash cow for Kakao, this is seen as a future core business.

The unit is led by Vice President Kwon Mijin, part of the 'Namgung Hoon faction.' VP Kwon previously served as head of Kakao's domestic game business division and led casual game development and social marketing at Kakao Games, working closely with CEO Namgung. In January, she was appointed head of Kakao Future Initiative Center V2TF, overseeing the discovery of future growth engines across all Kakao affiliates. The organization is mainly composed of personnel who developed 'KakaoTalk Gamebyeol' in the past. Through new recruitment, the team includes not only service planning and development staff but also content creators such as writers and web drama producers.

KakaoTalk Gamebyeol is one of CEO Namgung's representative successes. After being appointed Vice President in charge of Kakao's game business in 2016, he added a game menu within KakaoTalk and introduced snack games. This allowed users to enjoy casual games and share them within chat rooms without a separate app. He developed KakaoTalk, originally a communication service, into a game platform, boosting game revenue and laying the foundation for Kakao Games' growth.

The experiments attempted through Gamebyeol are now unfolding within KakaoTalk. Kakao Games introduced a conversational snack game called 'Gamebyeol Idol,' where users interact with idols virtually and complete missions. Content included unreleased images of idols and new album information. They also released 'SnackTalk,' a conversational game where users participate in virtual dialogues by selecting responses.

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