Look, let's be honest—it is not every day you see industry titans dropping into a local PC cafe in Gangnam, Seoul. Yet, on June 7, that is exactly what happened as Krafton hosted a fan event for PUBG: Battlegrounds. It was a rather cheeky affair, with Krafton Chairman Byung-Gyu Chang and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang turning up in person to mingle with the community. They were joined by PUBG IP Franchise Lead Tae-Seok Jang and Krafton CAIO Kang-Wook Lee, all there to toast the players who keep the servers humming.

Beyond the photo ops, the meeting was all about putting the pedal to the metal on AI collaboration. The two companies are deepening their technical partnership to optimise Krafton’s heavy hitters, PUBG and inZOI, for the RTX Spark platform. And if that weren't enough, the pair spent time hashing out some serious discussions regarding the future of robotics.

The atmosphere at the venue was buzzing with energy, featuring guerrilla meet-and-greets and exhibition matches between PUBG influencers and the rank-and-file fans. The top brass even got stuck into the fun, handing out prizes during quiz sessions and lucky draws. Attendees were also treated to a live showcase of PUBG running on the RTX Spark platform, along with a demonstration of PUBG Ally.

Chairman Byung-Gyu Chang didn't miss the chance to acknowledge the community, stating, "Krafton is where it is today entirely thanks to the fans who have stuck with PUBG for such a long time." He added, "Moving forward, we intend to leverage our partnership with NVIDIA to craft entirely new experiences, not just within gaming, but across the broader AI landscape as well."

This isn't their first rodeo, of course. Back in January last year, Krafton and NVIDIA unveiled their collaborative AI model, the Co-Playable Character (CPC). PUBG Ally, developed using on-device small language models powered by NVIDIA ACE technology, is the prime example of Krafton translating its AI ambitions into actual gameplay. You can expect to see PUBG Ally arrive in the PUBG Arcade as a beta service sometime this June.

Krafton has been at the forefront of integrating AI into its titles through this ongoing collaboration. You might recall that back in April of last year, CEO Chang-Han Kim and other key executives made the trek to NVIDIA’s headquarters in California to discuss next-gen tech, including robotics. Indeed, Krafton has been busy, founding Ludo Robotics earlier this year to dive deep into humanoid robot AI research.