Mobile gaming startup Haegin, which attained a ‘unicorn’ status in February 2022, has attracted fresh investment. Haegin, the developer of the mobile casual social game ‘Play Together’, has attracted new investments of 25 billion won ($19 million) each from SK Square and SK Telecom (SKT) for a total of 50 billion won ($39 million). Play Together has accumulated over 100 million downloads worldwide.
In February, Haegin attracted a Series B investment worth 100 billion won ($82 million) with the participation of large global investors with an enterprise value of more than 1 trillion won ($78 billion). Haegin secured a total of 150 billion won ($117 million) in funds through the participation of new investors in the SKT family.
Haegin & SKT to collaborate for metaverse & other upgrades
SKT investment has been made with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of Haegin’s ‘AI-VERSE’ (AI and Metaverse) business. Haegin wants to converge core competencies in the ICT and game fields to gain differentiated competitiveness in major future business fields such as AI, metaverse, and blockchain to preoccupy the next platform in the era of Web 3.0.
The two companies plan to conduct joint marketing for SKT subscribers to increase users for Haegin games including ‘Play Together. Haegin will also provide an immersive user experience through game content for a long time to SKT’s AI service customers.
The two companies plan to collaborate for metaverse platforms, sharing various metaverse contents such as avatars, spaces, and mini-games, hold large-scale concerts and joint events and consider linking a blockchain-based virtual economy system in the mid to long term.
Lee Young-il, CEO of Haegin said, “I am delighted to be working with SK Square and SK Telecom, which have a wide understanding of the ICT market and various global business experiences. In addition to two new games scheduled to be released this year, we will also showcase various business collaborations such as games, metaverse, and blockchain.”
Haegin served as the head of the development division for global hit titles such as ‘Summoners War: Arena in the Sky,’ ‘Golf Star,’ ‘Home Run Battle,’ and ‘Com2uS Professional Baseball.’ Haegin’s ‘Home Run Clash,’ ‘Overdogs,’ ‘Extreme Golf,’ and ‘Play Together’ account for more than 90% of the global share in total users and sales. The new ‘Play Together’ released in April 2021, is a mobile casual social game that provides mini-games, daily life experiences, character and house customization, etc., in a play environment with a high degree of freedom. It has achieved 100 million global downloads and 4 million daily users (DAU) within one year of its release and expanded partnerships with external brands such as IPX (formerly Line Friends), Genie Music, Daehong Worldwide, and MILL.
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