-Kakao Entertainment and LCK forged an official partnership holding agreement ceremony at LoL PARK in Jongro-gu, Seoul on 21st of June.
-Kakao Entertainment expects synergy during LCK Summer event based on various joint projects such as Talk-Drip.
Kakao Entertainment(CEO: Lee Jin-soo, Kim Sung-soo) announced its partnership with League of Legend Champions Korea(CEO: Oh Sang-hun), a host of South Korea’s professional e-sport league on June 22nd.
The agreement ceremony was held in Jongro-gu, Seoul, South Korea on June 21st participated by major officials of the both parties including director Park Jong-chul and CEO Oh Sang-hun.
The first collaboration between the two companies took place for LCK spring playoffs in 2021 focusing on synergy of LCK and Only I Level Up, the representative webtoon IP of Kakao Entertainment. The joint project was hailed by fans of the webtoon and e-sport. Along with the expansion of the scope of the cooperation between the two since then, Kakao Entertainment is planning to increase sponsorship marketing through the championship beginning from Summer Split.
LCK has taken new steps since 2021 spring season beginning with introducing franchise system. The championship changed playoffs rules and up-scaled rewards and minimum salaries. For the summer split, it introduced integrated roaster system, shortened cycles of call-ups and sand-downs, changed the way of choosing red or blue side making the league more interesting.
Kakao Entertainment is a global company with 8,500 competitive original IPs. It has led the popularity of K-webtoon around the world including the US, Japan and countries in South East Asia based on enticing contents for the youth such as Only I Level Up, Itaewon Class, The Uncanny Counter and A Business Proposal. LCK’s collaboration with Kakao Entertainment is expected to give multi-dimensional and fun experience to the youth. Currently, the two companies are carrying out joint projects for 2021 LCK Summer uploading popular “21’ LCK Summer: Summer is Coming” on Kakao page since the opening of the event.
Park Jong-chul of Kakao Entertainment’s platform business division said “LCK is beloved by e-sport fans around the world and is a company creating content enticing young people of the world” adding “we are spearheading the spread of K-webtoon around the world based on content that we identified with 1.5 trillion wons of investment. I expect this collaboration of the two companies would give much momentum for the two’s global business”.
CEO Oh Sang-hun of LCK said “Kakao Entertainment’s soft power covers beyond South Korea reaching countries around the world”, adding “LCK is beloved by e-sport fans of the world. As the fact that our league has been broadcasted with six languages proves our global competitiveness, I expect the partnership would bring more attention and affection for contents of the two companies”.
The 2021 LCK Summer Split opened on 9th of June showing fierce competition where no one can dominate the league. The event has been held off-line following South Korean government’s guideline for COVID-19 control.
Pangyo Technovalley is an innovation hub for global companies comparable to the Silicon Valley in the US, Zhongguancun in China, and STATION F in France. It is an Asia tech hub with 1,259 IT, BT, CT, and NT companies that possess innovative products and technologies. Located just south of the metropolitan area, it provides the best environment for Korean companies to do business with great transportation access and infrastructure.
Various high-tech companies are located in Pangyo Technovalley, and it is occupied by 64,000 full-time employees, many in their 20-30s. In terms of industry, the companies are engaged in information technology, contents technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
With the support of innovative companies with global capabilities such as Kakao, Naver, AhnLab, Krafton, NCSoft, Nexon, and Hancom, companies in Pangyo Technovalley recorded 107 trillion won in sales last year. Investment and infrastructure growth in Pangyo is expected to continue, with the Metaverse hub entering Pangyo this year.
Source: Pangyo Techno Valley Official Newsroom
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