Political Boost May Be on the Horizon for South Korean Metaverse, P2E, NFT Champions
South Korean metaverse and crypto gaming projects could get a massive boost in the weeks ahead – if the results of the next general election go their way, and provided politicians make good on their promises.
As reported, South Korean gaming giants have been all but frozen out of the play-to-earn (P2E) market due to the government’s restrictive stance on crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Titles like Axie Infinity cannot easily be accessed in the country, and the gaming regulator recently stated that it would be asking app marketplaces to remove P2E titles.
In many cases, this has forced South Korean gaming firms into overseas markets with their blockchain releases – at the expense of the local gaming industry.
But in what may turn out to be a key development, Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party nominee in the nation’s presidential elections, has launched a “gaming and metaverse” unit ahead of March’s vote. Lee has previously positioned himself as a crypto-friendly candidate, leading a parliamentary movement that successfully delayed the introduction of a tax on trading profits until 2023.
He has since gone further, speaking of the need to position South Korea at the forefront of crypto innovation in East Asia. Many have accused Lee of desperately trying to curry favor among younger voters, a growing number of whom are keen crypto investors.
Regardless, Lee now appears to have successfully positioned himself as the pro-business and industry 4.0-savvy candidate in what is essentially a two-horse race between himself and the People’s Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol.
The early evidence is that this stance has proved somewhat successful: Despite trailing Yoon in opinion polls late last year, a Realmeter opinion poll last
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