[My Life] Maverick Devoted to Game Development Dreams of Blockchain Revolution

[My Life] Maverick Devoted to Game Development Dreams of Blockchain Revolution

Read the full article [Segye Ilbo] 

*This article has been written in Korean. You can read the translated full interview below.

A teenager who loved computer games more than studying/Words of a CEO father “Do what you want to do”/Created first commercial PC game in middle school/Zyclunt, Forgotten Saga, countless hits in a row

First generation game developer’s obsession with Blockchain

Is there any point in studying anymore? The reality of Korea’s education system if often described as ‘one-line-standing’ and ‘passing through the eye of a needle.’ Only 1% gets to be the winner and the other 99% becomes the loser. “Might as well just play,” some say. But these are meaningless words. Not many people have the audacity to say this to their own children because deviating from the norm is even more frightening.

However, Sang Yoon Lee, the president of Bloom Technology, is different. He is a maverick who bravely swam against the stream. He does not tell his 12-year-old son to study. Instead, he tells him “do what you want to do,” partly due to his philosophy that one should be in charge of his or her own life, but mostly because he does not believe in the institutional education system. “The pressure to walk down the set path is causing a gradual loss of creativity,” said president Lee.

Lee is a first generation computer game developer. He earned his first income with computer programming in middle school. He has lived the last 40 years as a game software engineer and the CEO of a developer, but his interest has now shifted to Blockchain. “I want to change the world with Blockchain,” said Lee, posing in front of his company’s logo. Bloom Technology is a game developer established by Lee, formerly known as Phantagram.

Lee himself lived such a life. He didn’t just follow the signs provided by the education system. Throughout all of middle school and high school, he was obsessed with computer programming. Unlike most parents who would discourage their child from going against the norm, Lee’s father, who was a CEO of a mid-sized firm, encouraged him to do what he wanted to do.

The results began to appear quickly. Lee earned his first income with computer programming in middle school, and in 1988, he created Korea’s first commercial computer game called Daemasung as a high school student. When he enrolled in college, he founded his own game developer called Phantagram. Lee is a first generation computer game developer. Games such as Zyclunt (1995.PC Windows Side scroll action game) and Forgotten Saga(1997.PC Windows Roll playing game) were ranked #1 in the business at the time, and are still considered monumental works in the game industry.

But after living 40 years as a game software engineer and the CEO of a developer, his interest shifted to Blockchain, the 4th Industrial Revolution infrastructure. Blockchain, which is a technology based on cryptocurrency such as Bitoin and Etherium, is a new, revolutionary technology that enhances its security by disclosing its information to all participants rather than concealing it. For the first time in history, it enables transactions and business between people who don’t even know each other without a ‘middleman’ (intermediary). “We are now in a world where programs are more secure than men in taking the role of the middleman who maintains the credibility of the transaction,” said Young Bae Moon, director of Digital Finance Research.

To president Lee, Blockchain is a blue ocean and a new battleground. Last October, Lee established Bloom Technology with the ambition to create a Blockchain platform that surpasses Bitcoin and Etherium. He evolved Phantagram, which he created in his 20s to a Blockchain enterprise. We had a chance to visit Bloom Technology, which recently settled in Pangyo Techno Valley, for an interview with Lee, who appeared certain that Blockchain could change the world. “We are going to create a next-generation Blockchain platform that is unlike the existing ones and perfectly practical,” said president Lee.

-What is a ‘perfectly usable Blockchain platform’?

“Bitcoin’s structure occurred to me as merely testing the Blockchain, but Etherium, the 2nd generation Bitcoin, was more in shape. I saw a progression in the Blockchain platform, but Etherium essentially had the same base as Bitcoin. An increase in the number of dispersal ledges and participants would lead to a decrease in speed. I felt that the Blockchain platform could only be complete if the design of the structure itself was unrelated to the numbers. A perfectly usable platform should be able to process the increasing number of ledgers without slowing down regardless of the number of participants and the size of the data.”

- Wat does it mean to “slow down?”

“Having to wait 3 minutes to make a payment with your credit card would be weird. But if it takes more than 10 minutes? In the case of Bitcoin, it might take hours. Due to the slow transaction (processing) speed, Bitcoin and Etherium have a payment system other than Blockchain to force the transaction, which leaves a high risk of getting hacked. With our Blockchain, transactions only take several seconds, and the payment itself can be made within the Blockchain system’s main net due to this fast transaction speed.”

-So you’re saying you have the technology to create a Blockchain platform unrelated to the numbers. Do you think this is related to your experience with game development?

“In Kingdom Under Fire 2 that we created, thousands of characters appear but each character moves differently. This is the first game in which thousands of characters with different motions maintain continuity, and it was made possible through the research and development of decentralized distribution network technology. The key is to distribute the large amounts of information to prevent information collision and thus maintain continuity. Such distributed processing technology will help complete the Blockchain platform.”

Kingdom Under Fire 2 is a war game created by BLUESIDE, a game developer where Lee worked as the producer and president of the development section. Its production cost was found to be around 100 billion won, and the president of BLUESIDE is Lee’s wife, Se Jung Kim.

-So, what can you do with the Blockchain platform?

“The possibilities are endless. From oil trading to donation management, healthcare infrastructure and so on. For example, in the case of the Monaco Diamond Exchange, which formed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with us, our Blockchain platform can help save an astronomical amount of money in hiring their attorney. Diamonds create its own unique fingerprint depending on their composition, structure, weight, and the angle at which they’ve been cut. The problem with creating certificates with such information is that these documents are often forged, and the annual cost of resolving diamond-related issues such as diamond insurance fraud is enormous — almost 50 trillion won. If its certification and distribution occurs through Blockchain, even if the diamond gets stolen it cannot be sold. Similar to the abolishment of taxi rubbery through the use of black box.”

The business is progressing rapidly. Bloom Technology has already formed 37 MOA and other contracts, all of which are very substantial. Its contracting parties are foreign governments, public institutions, and leading businesses such as energy firms and urban development companies. The Congo government, which has a lot of mines, is trying to use the Blockchain platform for its real estate and mine management/ distribution, and the Mauritius Republic is trying to use it to manage its national system. MOA is different from an official contract in the sense that it is a document that pledges to keep the promise to the other party, and is one step above the MOU which has no legal binding power. Lee describes this as the “process to contract.”

It surely wasn’t a smooth sail. They haven’t made a lot of profit yet and until recently, BLUESIDE has been struggling from a financial crisis, mainly because the launching of Kingdom Under Fire 2, which took 7 years to develop, was blocked in China as an effect of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense). According to Lee, Kindom Under Fire 2 was ranked the most anticipated online computer game by the Xinhua News Agency sine last February as well as having received the Chinese Government’s service authorization, yet has not been able to launch the game in the Chinese market. “The potential monthly profit of 100~200 billion won has remained at 0,” said Lee.

The game industry is like a bloody battlefield. Following the financial crisis as an effect of THAAD, vicious rumors, which were later found to have originated from a competing business, began to spread regarding the company’s potential bankruptcy. BLUESIDE is now taking a breather after launching Kingdom Under Fire 2 in the Russian market last April.

Once you overcome a challenge, it can become an opportunity. “When Phantagram, which was taken over by NC Soft, separated again in 2003, we had 50 employees, 20 million won in our bank account, and were 15 billion won in debt. We couldn’t even get back Shining Lore, our main development game, from NC Soft. In most cases, the investors expect the firm to quit and give up on paying the debt, but we stood firm and continued making our next games, and eventually paid off our debt,” said Lee. Through this, Lee was able to gain the trust of investors in the industry.

-There were some unfavorable rumors regarding the process of cryptocurrency private sale. (Private sale is a process by which Blockchain businesses earn their initial investment. It is closed to the public and the minimum investment is high)

“Last March, we signed a business agreement with a company called Coin Genius to invest a certain amount of money and participate in private sale of cryptocurrency developed by Bloom Technology. Afterwards, part of the payment was made but the obligations were not met, so the agreement was terminated and Coin Genius is no longer a part of our private sale. The rumors are only in regards to Coin Genius and are unrelated to Bloom Technology.”

-What is the ultimate goal you want to achieve with the Blockchain Platform?

“We want to create a globally-used Blockchain platform. I also have a sense of duty as a Korean entrepreneur. The most advanced IT companies are concentrated in the United States, and meanwhile the Chinese Market is expanding and developing similar technologies. I don’t want to use their technology and live off the domestic market. In this era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, we must strive to improve our skills and move forward. Why can’t we be Asia’s Google or Apple?”

President Lee’s aspirations are extensive and ambitious. Will his dreams come true? The name of his Blockchain platform is ‘Locus Chain.’

Article by Sun Yeol Ryu. ryoosy@segye.com

President Sang Yoon Lee Born in 1971, Seoul. Left Hanyang University — math major (1996). Programmer at NEWAGE Team (1987 ~ 1989). Lead Programmer at FM Work (1990 ~ 1992). President & Producer at Phantagram (1994 ~ 2017). President & Producer of development section at BLUESIDE (2011 ~ now). CEO at Bloom Technology (2017 ~ now). Forgotten Saga 1997, PC), New Software Product Award of Excellence. Kingdom Under Fire (2007, PC), Korea Game Award of Excellence. Kingdom Under Fire: Crusaders (2004, XBOX), Korea Game Award of Excellence (Presidential Award). Ninety-nine Nights (2006, XBOx360), Korea Game Award of Excellence, Technical Creativity Award.

This article has been translated from its original article published in Segye Ilbo.