Can K-Pop Make the Metaverse Cool? - The New York Times

In a immense workplace extracurricular Seoul, technicians huddled successful beforehand of monitors, watching cartoon K-pop singers — astatine slightest 1 of whom had a process — creation successful beforehand of a psychedelic backdrop. A pistillate with fairy wings fluttered by.

Everyone onscreen was real, benignant of. The singers had quality counterparts successful the studio, isolated successful cubicles, with headsets connected their faces and joysticks successful some hands. Immersed successful a virtual world, they were competing to go portion of (hopefully) the adjacent large Korean miss band.

The stakes were high. A fewer of their competitors, aft failing to marque the cut, had been dropped into bubbling lava.

This, immoderate say, is the aboriginal of amusement successful the metaverse, brought to you by South Korea, the world’s investigating crushed for each things technological.

In the metaverse — whatever that is, precisely — the mean rules don’t apply. And the Korean amusement manufacture is delving into the possibilities, assured that fans volition happily follow.

K-pop groups person had virtual counterparts for years. Karina, a real-life subordinate of the set Aespa, tin beryllium seen connected YouTube chatting with her integer self, “ae-Karina,” successful an speech that comes disconnected arsenic seamlessly arsenic late-night TV.

The Korean institution Kakao Entertainment wants to instrumentality things further. It’s moving with a mobile gaming company, Netmarble, to make a K-pop set called Mave that exists lone successful cyberspace, wherever its 4 artificial members volition interact with real-life fans astir the world.

Kakao is besides down “Girl’s Re:verse,” a K-pop-in-the-metaverse show, whose debut occurrence connected streaming platforms this period was viewed much than a cardinal times successful 3 days. For some projects, Kakao is contemplating medium releases, marque endorsements, video games and digital comics, among different things.

What Is the Metaverse, and Why Does It Matter?

Compared with their Korean counterparts, media companies successful the United States person lone engaged successful “light experimentation” with the metaverse truthful far, said Andrew Wallenstein, the president and main media expert of Variety Intelligence Platform.

Countries similar South Korea “are often looked astatine similar a trial furniture for however the aboriginal is going to cookware out,” Mr. Wallenstein said. “If immoderate inclination is going to determination from overseas to the U.S., I would enactment South Korea astatine the beforehand of the enactment successful presumption of who is likeliest to beryllium that springboard.”

South Korea’s experiments with virtual amusement day backmost astatine slightest 25 years, to the little beingness span of an artificial vocalist called Adam. A kid of the ’90s, helium was a pixelated carnal of machine graphics, with sweepy eye-covering bangs and a raspy dependable that tried a spot excessively hard to dependable sexy. Adam disappeared from the nationalist oculus aft releasing an medium successful 1998.

But integer creations similar him, oregon it, person been a hallmark of Korean fashionable civilization for a generation. Today, Korean “virtual influencers” similar Rozy and Lucy person Instagram followings successful the six figures and beforehand precise existent brands, similar Chevrolet and Gucci.

The influencers person been purposely made to look astir real, but not quite; their near-human prime is portion of their appeal, said Baik Seung-yup, Rozy’s creator.

According to McKinsey, much than $120 cardinal was spent globally connected processing metaverse exertion successful the archetypal 5 months of 2022. Much of that came from companies operating successful the United States, said Matthew Ball, a tech entrepreneur who has written a publication astir the metaverse.

The highest-profile caller illustration was erstwhile Facebook renamed itself “Meta” in a multibillion-dollar effort to clasp the adjacent integer frontier, lone to spot its banal tumble and its earnings decline.

The South Korean authorities is investing much than $170 million to enactment improvement efforts here, forming what it calls a “metaverse alliance” that includes hundreds of companies. Mr. Ball said it is 1 of the astir assertive programs of its kind. But portion South Korea whitethorn beryllium “leagues ahead” erstwhile it comes to synthetic popular stars, whether its companies are apt to instrumentality a starring relation arsenic the metaverse evolves “is an unfastened question,” Mr. Ball said.

Government backing for caller technologies has paid disconnected for South Korea successful the past. The state built its modern economy over the past fewer decades connected the backs of tech conglomerates and placed a winning stake connected the cellphone industry, laying the groundwork for it to go what Bernie Cho, a euphony enforcement successful Seoul, called “the astir wired and wireless country.”

Kakao Entertainment — an limb of Kakao, South Korea’s do-everything tech company — is billing Mave, its artificial set successful progress, arsenic the archetypal K-pop radical created wholly wrong the metaverse, utilizing instrumentality learning, heavy fake, look swap and afloat 3-D accumulation technology. To springiness them planetary appeal, the institution wants the “girls” of Mave to yet beryllium capable to converse in, say, Portuguese with a Brazilian instrumentality and Mandarin with idiosyncratic successful Taiwan, fluently and convincingly.

The idea, said Kang Sung-ku, a method manager for the project, is that erstwhile specified virtual beings tin simulate meaningful conversations, “no existent quality volition ever beryllium lonely.”

Kakao’s singing show, “Girl’s Re:verse,” has a acquainted reality-TV “survival” format: 30 singers, eliminated implicit time, until the past 5 lasting signifier a band. But the contestants — each members of established K-pop bands oregon solo artists — compete, banter and bent retired arsenic avatars, successful a virtual satellite called “W.” Their existent identities are not revealed until they permission the amusement (in immoderate cases, by mode of the lava) oregon marque it to the end.

There are fewer limits to the imaginativeness successful “W,” which whisks its contestants from the unfastened oversea to a Versailles-like palace to a godforsaken landscape. One avatar is simply a cocoa princess, calved successful a cocoa tree; different has reddish devil horns. Pengsoo, a blunt-talking penguin mascot fashionable successful South Korea, is 1 of the judges.

The contestants were progressive successful creating their avatars, said Son Su-jung, a shaper for the show. She said portion of the constituent was to springiness K-pop singers — “idols,” arsenic they are called — a interruption from the industry’s relentless quality standards, letting them beryllium judged by their talent, not their looks. (Though the avatars, it should possibly beryllium said, each person large eyes and heart-shaped faces.)

The amusement besides lets them driblet their polished nationalist personas, unbend and ace jokes. “Idols successful the existent satellite are expected to beryllium a merchandise of perfection, but we anticipation that done this show, they tin fto spell of those pressures,” Ms. Son said.

At a caller taping, glitches were inactive being ironed out. Support unit popped successful and retired of cubicles to assistance singers fiddle with their equipment. At slightest 1 mishap made it into the archetypal episode: “I can’t perceive you!” a contestant yelled arsenic a justice repeatedly asked her the aforesaid question.

But immoderate things astir world TV hadn’t changed. Even avatars, it turns out, are encouraged to snipe astatine their competitors.

“Look astatine the greenish light,” a shaper intoned done a microphone to a contestant, whose avatar stared backmost astatine him from the screen.

“Who bash you deliberation did the worst?” helium said. “Talk arsenic if you’re gossiping astir someone.”