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Why Com2Us Holdings Pivoted Into Blockchain Games: Kyu Lee’s 2021 Rationale

Kyu Lee framed Com2Us Holdings’ blockchain pivot as a learning-and-opportunity bet shaped by Coinone, NBA Top Shot and Axie Infinity—not a mandate to put every game on-chain.
From TheFinanceBase Team5 min to read
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Com2Us Holdings’ move toward blockchain games was, in Kyu Lee’s account, a learning-and-opportunity bet—not a claim that every game should use NFTs or tokens. In a GamesBeat interview published December 12, 2021, the then-president of Com2Us USA pointed to the company’s Coinone investment, NBA Top Shot’s sports-collectibles model and his experience playing Axie Infinity. He also acknowledged regulatory and service restrictions, player resistance and the possibility that some experiments would fail.

Why did Com2Us Holdings pivot toward blockchain games?

Lee described three signals that helped turn the company’s interest in crypto into action: an investment that offered a way to learn, a prominent example of digital sports collectibles, and firsthand exposure to a blockchain game.

Coinone offered a way to learn

Lee said Com2Us invested in South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone in 2020 because the company was interested in crypto but did not yet have concrete action items. He presented the investment as a learning step, rather than proof that the company had already settled on a particular game or business model.

NBA Top Shot connected NFTs to sports collectibles

Lee linked NBA Top Shot’s emergence to Com2Us’ existing interests in sports games and collectibles. The NBA’s participation suggested to him that NFTs could appeal beyond a specialist crypto audience. That was Lee’s interpretation of the signal, not independent evidence that digital collectibles had achieved mass-market adoption.

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Playing Axie Infinity revealed both opportunity and difficulty

Lee said Com2Us played Axie Infinity and saw opportunity, alongside what he described as significant hurdles. The interview records his assessment; it does not provide an independent evaluation of the game’s economics, performance or long-term viability.

How did the pivot fit the company’s wider ambitions?

Lee also placed the move in the context of leadership interest in the metaverse and Com2Us’ broader entertainment and intellectual-property ambitions. He referred to webtoons, entertainment production and Wysiwyg Studios, describing plans to expand those areas. In his explanation, blockchain games were part of a wider effort to connect games with entertainment assets and IP—not a standalone technical upgrade. These were strategic intentions discussed at the end of 2021, rather than evidence of what the company later delivered.

The scale of Com2Us’ existing games helped explain why the opportunity mattered to the company. GamesBeat reported that Summoners War had more than 100 million downloads and $2 billion in sales in its 2021 article. Those are figures reported by GamesBeat at the time, not independently audited current totals.

What did Com2Us say it would build or invest in?

Lee described a mix of investments, partnerships and planned services intended to help the company learn the ecosystem and prepare games for blockchain features.

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2021 initiative What Lee said What the interview establishes
Blockchain and metaverse investments Com2Us had invested in Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, Upland and Mythical Games. Lee described the investments as a way to learn and build ecosystem relationships; the interview does not establish their later results.
Terra partnership Com2Us selected Terra as a blockchain partner, citing its ecosystem and the practical advantage of working with a South Korean team. This documents the partnership choice as described in 2021, not its later status or delivery.
NFT marketplace Lee discussed a planned marketplace involving K-pop stars and entertainment brands. The interview describes a plan; it does not verify that the marketplace launched as described.
Wallets and game services Lee said the company was working on wallets and blockchain services for games. The interview does not establish the later availability or current status of those services.

Lee also said Com2Us had invested $10 million in Candy.com alongside Insight and SoftBank. That is his figure as quoted by GamesBeat in 2021. He described the investment as part of the company’s broader interest in commerce and digital assets.

How was the company preparing its teams and games?

Lee described an initial small group followed by a wider company learning effort as blockchain projects accumulated. He said some games planned for 2021 or early 2022 were being repositioned to add play-to-earn or NFT elements. At the time of the interview, he also referred to around 10 projects announced for the new year; that was a forward-looking count, not a verified tally of completed launches.

Lee expected the transition to involve experimentation and failed attempts. His point was not that blockchain features guaranteed better games, but that the company wanted to learn by making and testing them. The interview does not confirm that each planned game launched, or that announced features reached players.

Why wasn’t blockchain right for every game?

Lee drew a distinction between games designed around Web3 and existing games that might add a limited blockchain feature. He expected new kinds of games to emerge, but said some titles would work better in Web2. In his words, “There are going to be tons of new types of games that we’ll see in the Web3 world.”

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He used Axie Infinity and Mir4 to illustrate different levels of integration: Axie Infinity as a play-to-earn model, and Mir4 as a free-to-play game with a smaller play-to-earn element. These were examples of design approaches, not evidence that either model was more successful. The useful distinction is how central tokenized activity is to a game’s economy and play—not whether a game simply carries a blockchain label.

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What risks and limits did Lee acknowledge?

Service availability was restricted

Lee said Com2Us faced restrictions on where it could offer its games: “There are still a lot of restrictions on where we can service our games and where we can’t.” The interview does not specify every jurisdiction or the legal reasons behind each restriction, so it should not be read as a complete account of applicable rules.

Some players were resistant

Lee pointed to backlash around Ubisoft’s NFT announcement and Cookie Run NFTs as evidence of user resistance, and said education would be necessary. Those were his observations in the interview, not a representative survey of player sentiment.

Experimentation could mean failures

Lee’s own expectation was that the company would learn through trial and error: “We’ll learn a lot. We’ll fail a lot, but at least from a gaming perspective, I think we’re bringing in the best-looking games.” The remark captures the uncertainty in the plan as he described it, not a guarantee about the quality or outcome of future releases.

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What the interview can—and cannot—tell us

The interview is a record of Com2Us’ reasoning and stated plans in December 2021. A later BlockchainGamer.biz interview with Com2uS, published May 30, 2023, provides additional discussion of blockchain gaming, while a March 22, 2023 Com2uS Group announcement documents Lee’s appearance at GDC. Neither source, as presented here, verifies whether the specific Terra partnership, NFT marketplace or game roadmap described in 2021 was delivered. The best-supported conclusion is therefore about why Lee said the company made the bet: it wanted to learn from early crypto exposure, pursue an opportunity it saw in digital collectibles and games, and test blockchain features while recognizing that adoption and design would be uneven.

Sources: GamesBeat interview with Kyu Lee (published December 12, 2021; page updated June 18, 2025); BlockchainGamer.biz interview (May 30, 2023); Com2uS Group announcement (March 22, 2023).

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