Microsoft Invests in Korean Gaming Company WeMade Amidst Web3 push

Korean gaming company WeMade announced that Microsoft, Shinhan Asset Management and Kiwoon Securities have collectively invested $46 Million USD for its Web3 endeavors. WeMade is best known in the Web3 gaming space for Mir4, a play-to-earn Web3 game based on the popular ‘Legend of Mir Series,’ that lets you mint your character as an NFT, and even mine cryptocurrency if you so choose. The participation of Microsoft in this round follows the comment made by Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Games and Xbox who said that Metaverse today is a ‘poorly built video game’ in October 2022.

Microsoft's Investment in WeMade Could Potentially See it Explode in Popularity

WeMade was founded in 2000 by Kwan Ho Park and has made several games over the past couple of decades including the popular ‘Legend of Mir’ series, Fishing Strike and Icarus. Over the last few years, the company has grown exponentially by working in several verticals that include online game development, publishing, IP, licensing and investment.

The company has a wide presence in the Asian regions especially in Korea and China, especially thanks to the ‘Legend of Mir’ IP that it owns with Actoz.

Recently, the company in March signed a strategic partnership MoU with Gamechanger to enable P-2-E games to South-east Asia and Latin America. This partnership would mean that parties like Ubisoft may be involved in the partnership through its connection with Gamechanger.

The gaming company is currently working on the game titled ‘Legend of Ymir’ which is part of the Legend of Mir series and it is being made with Epic Games’ new Unreal Engine 5.

Legend of Ymir is expected to portray the story of Legend of MIR, reinterpreting it for the Western European audience. WeMade also intends to utilize NFTs for the title, and is expected to be leveraged in a Play 2 Earn capacity.

WeMade’s Web3 Push

WeMade has also recently made big strides in the blockchain gaming industry. It launched its blockchain gaming ecosystem WEMIX 3.0 and its DeFi platform WEMIX.Fi in October 2022.

In August 2022, the company had released its NFT Project called NFT is Life Evolution which has its genesis collection called ‘London Underground Station 264 Genesis’.

With the recent influx of investments, the company is betting big on expanding its Web3 gaming endeavors and scaling its IPs.

According to the CEO of WeMade Henry Chang, the investments made in the current round are “meaningful…by reputable financial and strategic investors with proven track records”.

With Microsoft actively investing in Web3 projects the investment in WeMade could definitely be part of a push into the blockchain gaming market. Only time will tell if this move by Microsoft would rebut Phil Spencer’s remarks on the metaverse.