South Korea Delves Deeper into Metaverse with ‘Avatar Singer’ and More

The COVID-19 pandemic has made one thing abundantly clear: what is inevitable is not just death, but also change; the all-encompassing reality that an undefinable virus can isolate everyone in the world, and everything virtual is undeniably possible — virtual meetings, online classrooms, digital music concerts, immersive interactive travel experiences, virtual worship services, and definitely virtual beings too, all fundamental facets of social networking and a dynamic three-dimensional realm, the ‘metaverse.’

The term was first used to apply to this 3D cyberspace in Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Snow Crash. Later, Second Life, a virtual world platform (introduced in 2003), became the first metaverse in which users are portrayed as avatars. While technology identifies an ‘avatar’ as a graphical image of a user, in online networks, they are two-dimensional symbols recognized as profile pictures. As seen in video games, avatars may well be three-dimensional models.

For me, for a long time, the metaverse conjured up images of The Matrix (1999). The film is about a dystopian future in which humanity is inadvertently locked inside The Matrix, a creation of evil cyber intelligence to exploit human bodies as a source of energy. When computer hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) discovers the truth, he joins forces with the savage Morpheus (Lawrence Fishbourne) in a battle to shatter the simulated reality.

The entertainment industry is embracing and investing in the metaverse as it develops over time, alongside corporate and social media juggernauts, to create more exceptional films and television programs, including Minority Report (2002), Avatar (2009), Black Mirror (2011), Ready Player One (2018), and Altered Carbon (2018), to name a few. However, how South Korea is aligning itself with the metaverse may end up being the next big thing. 

I assume that the utilization of this concept in South Korea began with the country’s burgeoning K-pop industry. Aside from popular K-pop metaverse platforms such as ZEPETO and Stan World, K-pop entertainment powerhouses such as HYBE, SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, among others, are avidly exploring the application of the metaverse to integrate their content through virtual idols. Take, for example, the renowned girl group Aespa, whose members have individual virtual avatars, or the more recent boy group Superkind, a band of four human idols — Daemon, Eugene, Geon, and one virtual idol named Sae Jin.

South Korean firms have accepted the metaverse as a part of the present and future in conjunction with the acceptance of the new normal. Check out my interview with Rozy, Korea’s first virtual influencer, to get a sense of how the country’s use of virtual reality is evolving. Rozy’s uncanny resemblance to a human is bewildering. In an interview with KOREAZ, Baek Seung-yeop, CEO of Sidus Studio X, stated that Rozy, his creation, is an emblematic figure of the MZ generation. “In her case, we created over 800 faces, making her face not only more realistic but also more detailed compared to other virtual characters.”

As a next step, South Korea has designed a first-of-its-kind reality TV stage initiative called Avatar Singer. Korean media has revealed the musical reality survival show stars 10 ace musicians from the industry with the veiled identities of 3D avatars. The participants are pitted against each other to accomplish feats that exceed physical boundaries.

The show-makers acknowledged their enthusiasm for the debut of Avatar Singer in a pre-release promotional press conference, noting that it had been a tremendous challenge to create the program with precision. They asserted that because the production technique used in the show was complex, it must be viewed as a top-tier global production with a very high level, particularly because it blends diverse technologies, notably augmented reality and real-time animation. The audio-visual display of Avatar Singer is a surprise package and will undoubtedly dissolve the distinction between real life and virtual reality.

Korea Herald stated in a piece that when the show’s host, Jang Sung-kyu, inquired about a ballpark figure regarding the show’s cost, it was disclosed that each episode costs more than a billion won, which is five to 10 times more than a standard Korean entertainment show. The celebrity judges were enthralled with the production, calling it “sensational” and tagging the performances as “cathartic.” “What we’re saying may not make sense right now, but you’ll understand what we mean after seeing the maiden episode,” observed South Korean rapper, television, and radio personality DinDin, one of the panelists.

Avatar Singer is currently airing on the South Korean cable network MBN.

This seems to be simply the commencement of a magnum opus. With Korea’s deep dive into the global village (in all capacities), from gaming to home shopping, showbiz and more, it will soon introduce its iteration of the K-metaverse, comparable to K-pop and K-drama. I’m unsure how that will come along, but it will be something out of the box in my estimation. I can vouch for this, especially after reading an intriguing article by John Mac Ghlionn for INVERSE. It reveals that the city of Seoul has committed 33 million USD to an initiative called “Metaverse Seoul.” That, as per XR Today, will revolutionize Seoul’s public services by enabling staff to interact with clients via an authorized metaverse portal employing 3D avatars and immersive settings.

American game developer Tim Sweeney has made a very good point: “The metaverse is going to be far more pervasive and powerful than anything else. If one central company gains control of this, they will become more powerful than any government and be a God on earth.” Do we already have a name?