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South Korean web3 game developer Delabs has opened its first public playtest for the dystopian RPG Metabolts. The test runs from January 22nd to January 26th and is limited to Delabs Adventure Pass holders plus players in Canada, Thailand, and Vietnam. Delabs plans to use the week to collect player feedback, track how long people stick around, and see how the gameplay lands with real users.
Metabolts is one of three games Delabs is building. It's a narrative RPG set in a collapsing future where a central bank crash forces survivors to adopt an alternative currency. The setup mirrors real-world debates about decentralized money versus traditional financial systems, though the game treats it as backstory rather than a manifesto.
Delabs CEO Joonmo Kwon framed the playtest as a way to get early reactions and refine the experience before a wider release. Delabs Adventure Pass holders get automatic access, while players in the three eligible countries can grab the game from Google Play or the App Store.
Delabs spun out of South Korean developer 4:33 Creative Lab and raised $4.7 million in seed funding last March, led by Hashed. Since then, the studio has focused on building blockchain games for the Polygon ecosystem. The move fits a pattern of South Korean developers testing web3 models after years of dominance in free-to-play mobile and PC games.
Kwon previously ran Nexon and shipped games like Crazyracing Kartrider, Kart Rider, and Boxing Star. At Delabs, he's pushing for blockchain features that don't require players to understand wallets or NFTs upfront. The studio has three projects in development: a racer, an RPG survival game, and an anime-styled title. Each has a dedicated team with genre experience.
In a recent interview, Kwon pointed to the Delabs Adventure Pass as proof that players are interested in cross-game rewards and persistent ownership. The pass works across all Delabs titles and offers perks in each. Kwon sees web3 as a fix for player retention problems in traditional games, where progress and purchases evaporate when a server shuts down or a sequel launches.
Delabs is a flagship partner for Polygon, which means the studio gets technical support and visibility in exchange for building on Polygon's network. Urvit Goel, head of global business development at Polygon Labs, said the partnership aims to bring millions of new players into web3 games through Delabs' projects.
