PUBG Publisher Krafton Partners With Solana Labs

Video game developer Krafton announced a partnership with Solana Labs on Wednesday that could bring non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to its popular battle-royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

South Korea-based Krafton said its plans for the Solana Labs partnership include the “development and operation of blockchain and NFT-based games and services,” according to a press release.

A source familiar with the deal told CoinDesk the partnership is a memorandum of understanding, meaning Krafton can still pull the plug on the partnership without legal repercussions.

PUBG is one of the all-time top downloaded games on Steam, with an active user base in the tens of millions; it was reported to have as many as 696,000 active users playing concurrently in early 2022. The game is second in popularity in the battle-royale genre only to Fortnite.

“Krafton will continuously see ways to work closely with blockchain companies like Solana Labs as we work toward establishing our Web 3 ecosystem,” Hyungchul Park, lead of Krafton’s Web 3 division, said in a statement. “Solana represents the best of the Web 3.0 ecosystem and its technologies. Through this cooperation, Krafton will acquire the insight needed to accelerate its investment in and output of blockchain-based experiences.”

The announcement comes as attitudes towards NFT adoption in the traditional gaming sector remain tepid, stemming from recent instances of backlash to the technology.

In February, Krafton invested $6.6 million in a pair of Korean-based NFT startups to help build out its budding Web 3 operations.

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