Engine Visual Wave, Full-Scale Launch of Metaverse Business

Recent 10 Billion KRW Investment Secured, Over 20 VFX Projects Ordered by 2023
Supporting Solutions in the Metaverse Market "Plans for a Large-Scale Virtual Studio"

Media group NEW announced on the 24th that its VFX subsidiary Engine Visual Wave is accelerating its metaverse business through investment attraction and strategic partnerships. Engine is a technology studio with research and development capabilities in visual effects for films, dramas, and original content for online video services (OTT), as well as metaverse technologies. Recently, it secured an investment of 10 billion KRW from History Venture Investment, Hi Investment & Securities, and others, raising its corporate value to over 50 billion KRW just two years after its founding.

Based on this, Engine plans to establish a high-efficiency production system and build a lineup of more than twenty projects by 2023. Its VFX works include director Yeon Sang-ho’s "Hellbound," "Concrete Utopia" starring Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-joon, director Kang Hyeong-cheol’s "High Five," and "Moving" starring Jo In-sung. In the metaverse market, Engine is advancing national R&D projects leveraging technologies such as metahumans and supports solutions optimized for new media environments. A NEW representative stated, "We possess a 4D facial scan system capable of commercializing virtual influencers, virtual announcers, and avatar services," adding, "We plan to open a large-scale virtual studio through a consortium with local governments."

Collaboration with technology partners also underpins business diversification. On the 17th, NEW invested 2 billion KRW in 3D Factory, which was selected as a 'Future Unicorn Company' in the global ICT sector by the Ministry of Science and ICT. As a company specializing in immersive media, 3D Factory was the first in Korea in 2016 to restore digital humans of the late Kim Kwang-seok, Shin Hae-chul, Yoo Jae-ha, and Kim Hyun-sik using hologram technology. In 2018, it secured a contract to build the metaverse system for Spanish professional football club Real Madrid. A NEW representative said, "We plan to showcase various NEW IPs through global metaverse platforms as well as engage in technology exchange."