South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s Sudden Change of Plans for Blockchain Gaming

The South Korean Leader swerves administration plans on blockchain-based gaming. According to sources, South Korean President, Yoon Suk-Yeol denies lifting the ban on blockchain-based gaming in the domestic market, forcing game developers to stick to overseas markets.

Speaking about this development, Kim Jung-Tae, professor of gamification at Dongyang University, said, “The president has not mentioned [P2E] since [taking office in May].”

Additionally, Jung-Tae stated:

The game industries and developers are left speechless. We had several blockchain game models four of five years before the success of Axie Infinity, a P2E game.

Lastly, the educator added, “What is the reason? I can assure you, they still perceive [games/sports] negatively.”

In President Yoon’s election campaign, he had promised to remove the ban on the P2E gaming industry and regulate to encourage the gaming industry which includes blockchain-based gaming titles as well. However, Yoon had reconsidered his promise in his final election.

A study by Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCGA) shows that over 71% of the country’s population are gamers and about 11% of the country’s population visits a computer center called “PC bang” more than once a week.

Furthermore, Jung-Tae added that though he does not advocate giving carte blanche to the industry, some institutional recognition could help sustainable P2E titles by tapping the domestic market.

Since 2017, South Korean game developers started to approach blockchain P2E titles but strict regulations against cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology – including a ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) that would help smaller studios develop new titles – held back the industry.

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