NCSoft Corporation, the South Korean video game developer and publisher, has invested in the Palo Alto, California-headquartered blockchain firm Mysten Labs. This is a strategic move for the company to advance in the Western markets.

As per The Korea Economic Daily, Mysten Labs revealed on Wednesday, Nov. 9, that NCSOFT put $15 million in its investment funding round worth $300 million. The gaming company’s investment also sealed a partnership agreement with the blockchain firm.

Mysten Labs was co-founded by Evan Cheng last year, and he now serves as its chief executive officer as well. He has previously worked as an executive at Meta, formerly known as Facebook.

The company is well-known for its blockchain Sui which is the first permissionless Layer 1 blockchain designed to allow creators and developers to build experiences for the next web3 users.

The company secured a $36 million investment from Samsung Next last year, and for this, Mysten Labs made headlines in South Korea. The said investor is an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, and the funds are part of Mysten Labs’ Series A financing round.

At any rate, NCSOFT Corp. unveiled its plans to integrate the non-fungible token (NFT) technology in the international version of its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called the “Lineage W” earlier this year. This title is the company’s fifth installation in its “Lineage” game series, and Mysten Labs will certainly be able to help the gaming firm achieve its NFT installation goal.

The deal is also timely, as NCSOFT is also planning to launch “Lineage W” with NFT and other blockchain features in the U.S. The firm’s president and chief strategy officer, Dr. Yoon Song Yee, believes that blockchain technology has the potential to create new and cutting-edge player experiences.

“We are excited to partner with Mysten which shares our vision for the technology as a platform for a truly distributed player-centric economy, passion for community building, and trustworthy technology, which is crucial for those who desire to build a platform of the desired scale and reach,” the NCSOFT president and CSO said in a press release.

Evan Cheng, Mysten’s co-founder and CEO, also added, “NCSOFT is a storied name in gaming with a rich legacy of building fun, innovative experiences that have attracted millions of loyal players worldwide, and we are grateful for NCSOFT’s financial support and partnership.”