What’s the most important factor in blockchain-based computer games? One might wonder if it’s a token economy better than that of other blockchain-based games or a faster data processing speed than that of other blockchains.

“That’s an idea considering only blockchain users who account for fewer than 1% of Koreans,” said Danny Sangjoon Woo, CEO of Nabu Studio. “Blockchain is just a perfect ‘backend’ technology. What’s important to 99% of gamers is fun and user interface.” Nabu Studio appears determined to break existing game companies’ thinking that “for blockchain games, this is good enough” and provide better games by enhancing trust in games and cutting fees with perfect backend techniques. The company joined Kakao’s blockchain platform Klaytn as a decentralized application (DApp) last month.

Established in March, Nabu Studio is a company specializing in the development of sports service and simulation games. Woo was in charge of the webboard business department at NHN (formerly Hangame) from 2003 through 2015 before having stints as the general director of NHN Entertainment and CEO of NHN Entertainment’s subsidiary Blackpick. He is a leading expert in Korea’s sports game industry who led the development of webboard games, Baseball 9 and Football Day and oversaw these businesses.

Operated by Nabu Studio, Sportsplex is a fantasy sports platform where athletes from such popular leagues as MLB and NBA play virtual games. Fantasy sports are a type of online game where participants create virtual teams of real-life players of a professional sport, with gamers playing virtual games online as both owners of a team and coaches. “You can form your team by picking 10 players including Ryu Hyun-jin and Choo Shin-soo. If a player homers in an MLB game, you earn points. Fantasy sports, which are somewhat unfamiliar to domestic users, are enjoyed by 60 million people in the United States and have a market size of 7 trillion won. Sportsplex targets, among other things, the 3.5 trillion won daily fantasy sports (DFS) market, which accounts for half of the totality of fantasy sports.

Moreover, Sportsplex is working on a sports management game by simulating players’ abilities. For example, imagine a player named Choo Shin-soo of 2017, and you can create a simulation engine by quantifying his ball velocity, strikes and accurate pitches. Gamers grow characters built based on real players using Sportsplex’s token “SPX” and play games to earn points. “We will collaborate with MLB to obtain a license that would facilitate the use of players and plan to make inroads into Japan’s pro baseball league,” Woo said.

Yet gamers’ doubts might be unavoidable, taking into account the characteristic of games relying on the probability. Woo explains he is trying to solve the trust issues by using blockchain. “Users rarely believe if the probability of item appearance, scores and point provisions are managed properly,” said Woo, adding that “we will proclaim the probability of Ryu Hyun-jin’s appearance in 2017 and let users confirm this on the blockchain platform.”

Blockchain will be used to filter out abnormal players as well. “Abnormal players called ‘sharks’ produce ghost IDs and play thousands of games a day by using macro programs,” he said. “We will use blockchain to show how our service operates and that the probability is not manipulated and let users tell who are sharks.”

Woo also plans to let gamers determine participating fees, one of the factors that irritate gamers, autonomously. “If users think fees are so high, gamers can vote to adjust fees in person. Users will vote rationally because we plan to redistribute half of the participating fees taken by game companies back to them,” he said.

Sportsplex has yet to plan on entering the Korean market. That’s because of his judgment that it’s too early at the moment to introduce blockchain-based games into Korea, given his long career in the domestic gaming market - he spent more than 10 years in Hangame and had a stint even at the Game Rating & Administration Committee (GRAC). “The U.S. and Japan accept games if blockchain is believed to be integrated into the system but Korea tries to apply regulations first. It would be difficult to get approval from the GRAC if cryptocurrencies are included,” Woo said.

/Jaeyeon Won Reporter wonjaeyeon@decenter.kr

원재연 기자

wonjaeyeon@decenter.kr