Korean IT giants drop fandom platforms, help HYBE dominate

South Korean game developer Neowiz has sold its fan engagement platform unit, joining the moves by local IT giants such as Naver Corp. to pull out of the business and allow HYBE Co., the label behind global K-pop sensation BTS, to dominate the sector.

Neowiz unloaded Neowiz Lab, its fandom platform subsidiary, in the second quarter, according to IT industry sources on Sunday. TNK Factory, Neowiz’s other subsidiary, has been operating Fab, Neowiz Lab’s fandom platform, since 2022.

“The move was [intended to allow us] to focus on our mainstay game business,” said a Neowiz official when asked about reasons behind the sale.

The developer of the action role-playing game Lies of P had been trying to expand its fandom platform business by attracting fans of Korean celebrities such as Loona. The 11-member girl group, which has been dissolved, was the first artistic group to feature on Fab.

Neowiz did not need to expand the business as the company secured a new growth driver in the game sector after the success of Lies of P. At the same time, it faced challenges in hosting celebrities on Fab, industry sources said.

NAVER, NCSOFT

Naver, Korea’s top online platform operator, transferred its fandom platform V Live in 2022 to WeVerse Company Inc., HYBE’s subsidiary operating the dominant fandom platform Weverse.

Naver bought a 49% stake in Weverse for 411.8 billion won ($311.8 million) in 2021.

Gaming behemoth NCSoft Corp. sold its fandom platform Universe to DearU Co., —whose top shareholders are K-pop powerhouses SM Entertainment Co. and JYP Entertainment Corp. — last year.

NCSoft also dumped its 66.67% stake in its entertainment subsidiary Klap in 2023.

WEVERSE

Such moves are expected to cement the dominance of Weverse, which has been expanding its service with popular HYBE artists such as BTS. Its monthly active user (MAU) base reached 10 million in June; 155 million users have downloaded the app.

Most Weverse users are foreigners in that over 90% of users log in to the app from outside Korea. It provides services on non-HYBE celebrities, too: 137 out of 152 artists on the app do not work with the NewJeans label. Last month, global pop star Ariana Grande joined the platform.

Weverse plans to improve the platform’s profitability by introducing paid subscription services that provide membership cards, offline video storage and no-ad functions.

Its sole competitor is DearU’s Bubble, which could pose a challenge to Weverse.

Kakao Corp., SM Entertainment’s top shareholder, is supporting the fandom platform by selling Bubble subscriptions on KakaoTalk, the country’s top mobile messenger app.

DearU set up a US unit in May to launch a fandom platform in the world’s No. 1 entertainment market. A month later, it launched such a service in Japan.

The Bubble app's growth has stalled, however, with paid subscriber numbers hovering around 2 million.

DearU’s sales dropped to 19.1 billion won in the second quarter from 20.3 billion won in the first and 20.9 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Write to Ju-Hyeon Lee at deep@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.