Krafton unveils its first virtual human ANA

South Korean gaming company Krafton, known for its PUBG series of games, has released the first images of its virtual human, ANA. 

The gaming company is planning to use ANA to engage with its global audience in games, eSports tournaments and metaverse platforms. 

In February, the company announced that it's working with Naver Z to build a metaverse using Unreal Engine. Naver Z also operates a metaverse platform called Zepeto. 

Krafton is also planning to invest around $6.5 million in two digital art companies to develop non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for its metaverse. The plan to build ANA was also announced in February. 

Virtual humans will be an integral part of the metaverse. Several companies investing in metaverse are building their digital humans. These digital humans can be entirely virtual and can be used to engage with customers or can be the digital replica of an actual human. For instance, JP Morgan has created a digital avatar of its chief executive Jamie Dimon, which will greet customers visiting its Onyx lounge on Decentraland metaverse. 

Developed using Unreal Engine's hyper realism character development technology, Krafton's ANA can make motion-captured vivid movements, pupil movements and a wide range of facial expressions. 

Krafton said that it is also using advanced voice synthesis, a deep learning technology, to create an AI voice for ANA which she can use to interact and even sing like real humans.

"We expect ANA to attract the interest and popularity of Gen Z around the world," said Josh Seokjin Shin, head of the Creative Center of Krafton. 

Shin pointed out, ANA will release an original music track and expand her scope of activity as an influencer into various areas across entertainment and eSports. 

There is a massive interest in metaverse and NFTs in India. The digital avatar trend is also catching on. Several of these digital humans have also been made available on Web2 based social media platforms such as Instagram to build engagement.