K-pop metaverse’ on the horizon as South Korea has metaverse leadership in its sights

Following the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT’s announcement that the government will invest $7.5 billion into digital technologies—with almost 9% devoted to South Korea’s metaverse industry and cloud services;

“South Korea is putting its money where its mouth is. The government’s 2022 investment plan capitalizes on its winning hand in gaming and K-pop, and we can certainly expect the announcement of further metaverse initiatives over the course of 2022.

“Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard has highlighted the importance of gaming in the development of metaverse platforms and South Korea is uniquely well placed to become one of the world’s leaders in the metaverse. The country is home to a huge gaming market, with cloud gaming leaders such as Netmarble. Further, South Korea’s entertainment industry has embraced virtual concerts, and is developing a K-pop metaverse.

“Ministry of Science and ICT’s announcement comes a week after it revealed plans to make South Korea the fifth largest metaverse market globally by developing 220 metaverse firms and 40,000 industry experts by 2026. Metaverse hype may have blossomed with Facebook’s rebrand, but South Korea has been storming ahead with its metaverse plans since early 2021. For example, in September 2021, the government had already committed to investing $2.2 billion into metaverse-related technologies such as cloud and blockchain by 2025. This latest announcement corroborates what a series of initiatives have already confirmed: that the metaverse will play a central role in the South Korean economy.”