Cyworld returned as a metaverse to reclaim its 32-million-user glory days

A metaverse social platform reviving Cyworld's mini-homepage, avatars and dotori economy in 3D, plus virtual offices and commerce.

The dotori-buying teens of the 2000s — and their 18 billion archived photos — would come back if the mini-homepage returned as a 3D metaverse where users are creators.

Cyworld began in 1999 as a KAIST student's graduation project, peaked at 32 million users in a country of 50 million, and fell as Facebook, Twitter and KakaoTalk took over — a relic of the pre-smartphone web.

Cyworld Z, the old platform's owner, partnered with software group Hancom to rebuild the service in 3D as 'Cyworld Hancom Town', set to hit Google, Apple and local One Store app stores on Friday 17 December 2021, with virtual offices, videoconferencing, shopping, banking and movie tickets planned. Related shares spiked: NHN Bugs rose more than threefold in four months.

The archive is the moat: no competitor can reproduce 18 billion photos of one country's digital life, restored for its original owners.

The business model was redesigned, not just the graphics — from selling acorns to users toward users earning as creators.

The metaverse framing gave the 2000s mini-homepage a native format again: a decorated personal room, now walkable in 3D.

Markets moved before launch: a music supplier's shares tripling showed how much stored affection the brand still carried.

A dead product's archive is an asset money cannot buy back: 18 billion resurrected photos bought Cyworld's second launch the one thing startups lack — an audience with memories.

As of 16 December 2021, one day before the planned app-store debut, specifics about the platform were still unreleased and the Korea Herald judged the revival's odds uncertain: in the era of TikTok and Instagram, Cyworld 'will need much more than just nostalgia'.