Hi there all,
As mentioned in our previous post, we will be running an interview series with our initial service partners.
Just a quick review, Klaytn seeks to provide an advanced platform for service providers to develop and operate DApps, as well as enhance user experience by offering a broad spectrum of blockchain services. In doing so, we have partnered with leading enterprises in various industry domains including games, entertainment, healthcare, finance, etc., that already have a great number of active users on their services. As successful players in their own respective fields, Klaytn’s initial service partners altogether work towards creating a meaningful blockchain service, and also expanding Klaytn ecosystem. Knowing our partners, therefore, is a very important task for us.
The first partner we’d like to introduce is Wemade Tree. Established in early 2018, they are a subsidiary of Wemade Entertainment, aiming to connect Wemade’s diverse portfolio of IPs as well as market-proven popular game contents, with blockchain technology. Wemade’s biggest asset is The Legend of Mir, which has over 200 million users along with its IP produced into over 2,000 different games at Chinese top-tier companies including Tencent. Wemade also has about 10 subsidiaries including Joymax, and quite a number of companies that they invested have also become powerful game companies across Asia.
Klaytn visited Wemade Entertainment located at Pangyo Techno Valley and sat down with Wemade Tree’s co-CEO’s, Suk Hwan Kim, who oversees business and Hoeun Oh, who leads development.
Klaytn: Please briefly introduce yourselves for our readers.
Kim: I have worked in game business, marketing, and web service areas at Korea’s representative IT companies including Freechal, NHN, and Netmarble prior to joining Wemade.
Oh: Started out as online programmer at CCR’s RF Online, I have developed notable mobile games at Wemade including Icarus and Touch Fighter. I’m currently focusing on developing blockchain platform and game DApps.
Klaytn: Could you share with us the background on Wemade Tree’s decision to work with Klaytn?
Kim: Although it has been quite a few years since blockchain has come to the fore, there isn’t any real use case of a substantial degree. We had been meaning to create a meaningful blockchain service all along, and we thought it would be effective to work with a large-scale blockchain platform with abundant development know-hows and experiences rather than with a relatively smaller company. In that sense, Kakao-backed Klaytn was an optimal choice as our partner. In addition to technical stability and power, Klaytn boasts strong marketing and business contents, which were attractive for us.
Oh: As Kim said, we believed in Klaytn’s strength in both technology and business. Klaytn’s got real strong advantages including consensus mechanism, scalability, speed, etc. And we also turned out to be a good match, especially in terms of development methodology. Even when we had questions or encountered some issues while using Klaytn testnet, the Klaytn team responded in a very prompt and professional manner, which we appreciated. We had a real easy time working with Klaytn.
Klaytn: Can you tell us more about Wemade Tree’s blockchain service?
Kim: In the current blockchain-based gaming industry, the application of blockchain technology is mostly targeted at digital item trade only. We want to, however, maximize the use of blockchain by applying it to the very core of gaming, which, in my opinion, is the circulation structure where a user, who devotes his time to immerse himself in the act of playing games is rewarded with his character’s growth, which then makes the user want to keep playing more, devote more of his time, witness more growth, and so on. You get the idea. In that course of process, the user discovers fun, which you could call entertainment, or even joy, I guess. This, I think, is the intrinsic value of gaming. Such value should be projected onto blockchain technology because that’s exactly when we can create a meaningful, and also lasting blockchain service. It is perhaps a bit too early at this stage to speak about our project in detail, but what we aim to do, in essence, is to realize that core value of playing games through blockchain.
Oh: Digital games require too many actions and transactions that if we were to use a public blockchain platform for games, we’d be encountering countless speed and TPS-related issues. So what we’re planning to execute instead is build an internal private network for game service and connect whatever output is created within that private network to a public blockchain for transactions.
Klaytn: When we talk about blockchain, we cannot leave out the ecosystem part. We’re keen to know how Wemade Tree as a game industry approaches blockchain ecosystem.
Kim: The game users are highly sensitive to action-based rewards. The hours that they put into are rewarded as numbers, and the inputs and outputs, which are definite and clear-cut, are also easy to map out. Game is naturally a good match for blockchain because incentive towards contribution is a vital factor for blockchain. If the incentive system is combined with the core value of fun, the users will have a fairly quick understanding and better approach towards blockchain-based ecosystem.
There already exist a few games in the market that utilize this notion of ‘incentivized fun,’ but such ecosystem is fragmented by each individual game. In other words, the current market is a pretty complicated structure that it fails to allow cross-promotion among different games, which I think can be solved through blockchain. We should approach blockchain from a larger perspective.
Oh: There exist two different kinds of ecosystems. We can perhaps distinguish these two as microecosystem and macroecosystem. Microecosystem allows users to earn in-game items by devoting their time and energy while macroecosystem allows users to trade or apply their in-game items within a specific game to a different game. You can also think of this in terms of token. Games with low brand awareness can have their tokens to be applied to big major companies thereby enhancing user experience to a greater degree. This can definitely expand the entire game ecosystem.
Klaytn: It has been often said that blockchain is still at an early stage of industry life cycle. What kind of prospects do you have towards blockchain?
Kim: We see varying perspectives and opinions on blockchain in this society. Some positive, excited, and of course some pessimistic. Personally speaking, I think blockchain will be valuable to some degree. Well, rather, indispensable, considering its unique structure and potential. Somebody has to find and prove the value of blockchain soon, and I hope to accomplish this with Klaytn. It will take some time, and we might not be able to do it in the very near future, but we will do it.
Oh: As you know, blockchain was initially used as a tool for exchanging coins only. It had a spurt only in the very recent years with the notions of smart contract, platforms, etc. Yes, I agree that we’re still at an early stage. Even for someone like myself with a rather long history of engineering background and experience, I sense that we have a long way to go. There are many companies and foundations out there developing platforms, but only those who truly care about development environment and user experience will produce the most successful platform. Again, factors like TPS, speed, consensus, sidechain are all important, but DX and UX should be priorities. A user-friendly platform will be the game changer.
Klaytn: Both of you have worked in the IT industry ever since its beginning, and you have witnessed the initial growth of Internet and mobile industry. How about for blockchain? What would take for this industry to grow out?
Kim: When the Internet and mobile industry first came to the fore, nobody really knew that it would be this much powerful. Google? Kakao? Not even in dreams. If you want to be a leader in this industry, you’ve got to focus not on predicting the future correctly, but rather making smart priorities. Figure out what’s important, put your financial and human resources right into it, and respond fast. Online users constantly give feedback. You can thus enhance and advance your service by interacting with your customers. Same goes for blockchain too. Our blockchain-based services will thus inevitably be user-friendly. Blockchain itself is a large community consisting of users, developers, and service providers. With these great members, we will be able to create a meaningful service.
Klaytn: Do you think it’s important to educate or help users better understand blockchain at this stage?
Kim: I understand that blockchain-related terminology or jargon can be pretty difficult to comprehend. A lot of people still equate blockchain with cryptocurrency, or even mining with solving some math problems on your computers. We definitely need to organize these concepts. I don’t think everybody needs to understand blockchain to its very core, but the experts or developers out there should take some efforts in adjusting mistaken notions or ideas. Hopefully Klaytn can partake in this.
Klaytn: With the help of such a great partner like Wemade Tree, we feel more prepared than ever.
Oh: So are we. Wemade Tree and Klaytn go back a long way. Our parent company, Wemade Entertainment worked with Kakao when the mobile game industry first emerged. We were great partners, producing awesome games together.
Klaytn: Wemade Tree entered the blockchain scene quite fast compared to other major game companies. What was the motivation behind this?
Kim: It’s our entrepreneurial DNA. When no one attempted breaking into Chinese market, we managed to build 200 million Chinese users and thousands of IP’s. We were adventurous with our mobile games too. We always took risks, challenged ourselves, invested in what we believed was promising without hesitation, and of course produced great outcomes. We always look for new business opportunities, and along the course, we encountered this new wave of blockchain. And we jumped right in because we believe that this new wave can produce something valuable and meaningful.
Klaytn: We wish the best of luck for Wemade Tree. Last but not least, what is Wemade Tree’s vision?
Kim: We want to bring a new value to gaming industry. By combining game and blockchain, we will be able to reconstruct, expand, and share the game ecosystem. Oh, by the way, the official Wemade Tree homepage is also open at https://doughnuttree.network — please visit us!
The interview with our initial service partners will continue. Stay tuned!
Cheers,
Team Klaytn
[Klaytn official community]
Homepage: http://www.klaytn.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/klaytn_official
[About Klaytn]
Klaytn is a service-centric blockchain platform providing an easy development environment and friendly end-user experience. It is built upon solid reliability and significant stability with substantial service development for mass adoption. The platform allows real world applications of large scale to be produced right away so that our end-users can make full use of services without much expertise in blockchain or cryptocurrency. Klaytn seeks to convey the value and potential of blockchain technology to people.
