Previously, Roblox was listed on the U.S. stock market for less than a year, with a market value of 45.7 billion US dollars. Later, Facebook changed its name to Meta and made every effort to develop Metaverse. But no matter how loud these American companies are, there may be no country in the world that has a more positive attitude towards Metaverse than South Korea.
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Digital New Deal 2.0
In the middle of last year, as the economic situation of Asian countries began to recover from the epidemic, in May of the same year, the Moon Jae-in government of South Korea announced a "New Korea Deal" in order to stimulate South Korea's economic growth and promote the transformation of South Korea's economic model. The two pillars of this New Deal are the "Green New Deal" and the "Digital New Deal".
Among them, the focus of the "Green New Deal" is to enable South Korea to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, while the core of the "Digital New Deal" is to promote South Korea's digital economic transformation. A series of technologies related to Metaverse, including 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital twins, are all important components of South Korea's digital economy framework.
According to the summary of the results of the "Digital New Deal 1.0" released by the Korean Ministry of Science, Technology, Information and Communications (MSIT) in July this year, within one year of the implementation of the "Digital New Deal" 1.0, South Korea released the "2020 National AI Technology Readiness Index" by Oxford Insight. "In ", it has risen 19 places, ranking seventh in the world; it has expanded its innovative education infrastructure and cultivated 30,000 key digital talents in the fields of artificial intelligence and software.
On May 18 this year, under the leadership of MSIT, South Korea formed a Metaverse alliance with more than 200 companies participating, including many giants such as SKT, KT, LG, Samsung, and NAVER.
At the 4th South Korea New Deal Strategy Conference held on July 14, the Moon Jae-in government officially announced that South Korea's digital new deal has entered the 2.0 stage. According to information on the MSIT official website, in the 2.0 stage, the Metaverse Alliance will serve as the core force of the Korean Metaverse, creating a Metaverse ecosystem led by private companies and supported by the government.
According to the Korean Economic News report, the South Korean government will also provide policy, financial and other support for various projects initiated by companies participating in the alliance. At the beginning of August this year, MSIT officials publicly stated that "about 10 projects will be selected before October and sufficient financial support will be provided for each project."
In addition, in the field of digital twins, the South Korean government also announced the "digital twin industry promotion strategy", which covers the creation of digital twin infrastructure and industrial ecosystems.
In the field of blockchain technology, the South Korean government also stated that it will "promote large-scale projects to apply blockchain technology to various industries. At the same time, it will strengthen support for small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups, establish technology demonstration sites, and provide technical assistance, etc."
It is worth mentioning that as early as April this year, South Korea had already applied blockchain technology to its own "vaccine passport (similar to a health code)". Although the health code is widely accepted in China, it has been controversial in countries and regions such as South Korea or the European Union. One of the reasons is user privacy. Although the specific reason for this is unknown, the South Korean government stated that the use of blockchain technology can protect User Privacy.
According to MSIT's estimates, until 2025, the South Korean government will invest more than 49 trillion won (approximately RMB 275.4 billion) in the Digital New Deal 2.0 phase, mainly investing in a series of key technologies leading the digital future, Such as PIM (memory and processor integration), AI semiconductor, cloud industry, Metaverse, 6G mobile communication, etc.
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Recreating the success of Hallyu in the Metaverse
Of course, in addition to the support of the Korean government, Korean companies and users also have a high degree of enthusiasm for Metaverse.
It is said that Metaverse is the ultimate form of MMO games. As a game company best at MMO, the Korean game industry has been exploring the possibility of bringing its own classic IP or brand into Metaverse. Previously, Nexon had planned to launch the metaverse content of the "Adventure Island" IP.
In addition to the field of games, South Korea's Metaverse products are also attracting global users. "Zepeto" under NAVER currently has more than 200 million users worldwide, 90% of which are from outside Korea. High street luxury brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren have also launched digital stores on Zepeto to sell their digital products.
Zepeto Studio also allows users to design their own items and profit from them, and recently announced that it will integrate game services on the basis of the original social sharing, directly challenging Roblox.
In addition, in addition to the Metaverse products of large companies, more and more Koreans have also begun to invest in blockchain and digital assets, and have shown great interest in Metaverse.
According to Reuters, Samsung Asset Management expects that the "Samsung Global Metaverse Fund" launched by Samsung in late June this year will easily achieve the goal of 100 billion won (about 86.49 million U.S. dollars) by the end of 2021. Reached 2 billion won.
In addition, an NFT platform called Decentraland has also been welcomed by many Koreans. Users can use its native cryptocurrency MANA to purchase and develop virtual land, and can trade or develop virtual land into stadiums, cinemas, etc. on the platform. profit.
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rather make mistakes than miss
For Korean users, Metaverse may be just a utopia on the other side of the screen; but for South Korean companies and governments, as a possible direction of the next-generation Internet, Metaverse is an opportunity that can make mistakes but cannot be missed. For South Korea, opportunities are more important than risks.
The first is technology. In fact, judging from the various measures of the South Korean government, it is not difficult to find that the fields that the South Korean government has been paying attention to are not so much the Metaverse, but AI, 6G, XR, etc. No matter whether Metaverse is really the future, it must be the key technology of the future. field. As for products, ecology, business, etc., as MSIT said, the core is the alliance composed of large companies, and what the government does is to give some money every year and give the green light on policies.
The most direct evidence is that, according to the Korean Economic News report, the South Korean government expects to support the alliance in 2022 at a maximum of only 30 billion won (about 25.39 million U.S. dollars). In contrast, after lagging behind in the 2019 national AI technology readiness index, the South Korean government implemented the "National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence" overnight, improving its ranking by 19 places within a year.
The second is also to not repeat the mistakes similar to Netflix.
In short, according to the Netflix model, the Korean producer is basically equal to the bottom-level outsourcing company. Except for the over-budget production fee invested by Netflix in the early stage, it has no say in the commercialization of the IP in the later stage. At the same time, Netflix also squeezed the living space of Korean local streaming media platforms by virtue of the tolerance of global platforms in terms of themes and content. It can be said that the Korean film and television culture industry has been hit hard by Netflix.
Affected by this, the South Korean government naturally does not want to be hit by foreign products again in a field like Metaverse, which has a wider coverage of content and a larger user base once it succeeds, which will cause a chain reaction and affect the development of major industries in South Korea.
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Seoul will create a public service "metaverse platform"
On the 3rd of this month, the Seoul Metropolitan Government of South Korea announced that it will create a "Metaverse Platform" to provide public services to citizens. At that time, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will become the first local government in South Korea to provide the Metaverse service platform.
According to the five-year plan of the "Metaverse Seoul Basic Concept" of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the platform will be completed by the end of next year at the latest, and it will be temporarily named "Metaverse Seoul". Then, it will be introduced into the metaverse ecosystem in three stages, involving all aspects of municipal management services, including economy, culture, tourism, education and citizen complaints.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the project plans to cost 3.9 billion won (about 3.3 million U.S. dollars) and is one of the contents of Mayor Oh Se-hoon's "Seoul Vision 2030" plan to build Seoul into a city of the future.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government stated that "Metaverse Seoul" will gradually realize the virtualization of citizen and business services, such as holding virtual New Year's Eve ceremonies, setting up a virtual mayor's office, and providing virtual services for financial technology, investment, and "university town" projects. By 2023, a comprehensive administrative center will be built, where citizens can "talk" with the network avatars of city officials to handle civil complaints and consultations. This virtual service hall is temporarily named "Metaverse 120 Center".
According to the plan, Seoul's main tourist attractions such as Gwanghwamun Square, Deoksugung Palace and Namdaemun Market will be presented in the "virtual tourism special zone", and the lost historical sites will reappear online. In addition, starting from 2023, Seoul's representative festivals such as the Lantern Festival will also be held in Metaverse, which is convenient for people from all over the world to participate.
For a developed country like South Korea with a limited domestic market, it can be said that it is a matter of life and death if it wants to continue to develop and ensure the competitiveness of its companies and technologies on a global scale. This also means that South Korea must grasp both related technologies and the concept of Metaverse. Not only can South Korea not let go of any possibility that represents the future, but it cannot even lag behind.
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