WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 15, 2026--
Wrtn Technologies, the South Korean consumer AI company behind one of the country's fastest-growing platforms, announced the North American launch of OOC, an AI character chat and interactive storytelling platform. Available on iOS, Android, and Web, the service marks the company's major expansion into English-speaking markets.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260415199414/en/
The name OOC stands for "Out Of Character," a term from roleplaying culture for the moment a player steps outside the story to speak as themselves. It is the North American edition of Crack, Wrtn's flagship interactive character AI chat platform, which has rapidly become a major revenue driver since its standalone launch in South Korea in April 2025.
Branded as "The Playable Anime," OOC brings the sensibility of Japanimation or Japanese animation. It serves rich character arcs, dramatic world-building, and serialized storytelling into an interactive format. Users become the protagonist. Every choice shapes the narrative in real time.
Seyoung Lee, CEO of Wrtn Technologies, said, "Users aren't just chatting with a character, they are entering a narrative world where they are the protagonist." The platform's AI functions like a dungeon master in a tabletop RPG, constructing narratives that respond to user decisions while generating text, images, and audio on the fly.
Unlike standard AI companion chatbots or text-based adventure generators, OOC is designed around narrative structure, including world-building, evolving plot arcs, and real-time multimodal content generation. The company calls this new category "playable anime," positioning interactive AI fiction as a distinct form of entertainment.
OOC’s underlying platform has already been validated across two major Asian markets (Crack in South Korea and Kyarapu in Japan), building a large and highly engaged user base with strong daily retention. The North American launch incorporates localization insights from the company's Japanese expansion, with storytelling conventions tailored for Western audiences.
For more information, visit ooc.ai.
OOC arrives in North America as a “The Playable Anime” platform, transforming interactive AI fiction into a narrative-driven entertainment experience (Image: Wrtn Technologies)
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland's voters rejected a proposal to restart negotiations on joining the European Union more than a decade after previous talks ended, the national broadcaster reported Sunday.
The vote will put the long-debated issue to rest more than a decade after a euroskeptic government ended EU talks.
Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8% to 47.2%, RUV reported. The capital of Reykjavik was the only area in the island nation of 400,000 people where a majority supported the referendum.
The vote Saturday was held in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to control nearby Greenland, which drove some voters to favor the idea of European solidarity. Although Iceland is a NATO member, supporters said they would have greater protection from their neighbors if Trump ever made similar threats toward the volcanic island.
Iceland’s left-leaning coalition government, elected in 2024, moved up the EU referendum it had planned for next year after Trump mistakenly named Iceland four times while speaking about his designs on Greenland.
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, who campaigned in support of the measure, said she hoped the result would not divide the nation.
“I don’t feel that there is bitterness,” she told RUV before the final results were tallied. “I know tempers run high for some people, but I have now spent time with a large group of people from all over the country and people are quite open to different outcomes.”
It was a simple yes-or-no question for roughly 265,000 eligible voters: Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?
The vote count through the night had the nation on edge as the “Yes” vote took an early lead before eventually swinging in favor of the opposition. By dawn, a margin of only a few hundred votes separated the two camps before the gap grew as more ballots were tallied in areas of the country where opposition was greater.
“This isn't the time to go. Maybe 10, 15, 20 years or more, like, we can take another look,” said Daniel Bjarkason, who voted against the measure. "But for now we’re too divided and that’s not a good look, because it should be 70-30 Yes if we’re going to do it.”
Opponents rallied around fishing and the fact that Iceland already reaps benefits from being in the EU’s frictionless single market and the Schengen free-travel zone without the sovereignty compromises that inevitably come with full membership. They argued that Iceland’s voice would be muted in the large European Parliament and that it would be better off cutting its own trade deals, such as one with China.
Backers said EU membership would lower inflation and interest rates, and the euro would bring more stability than Iceland’s volatile króna. They said it was also in the nation’s interest to get closer to its European neighbors to tackle issues that don’t respect borders, such as climate change.
If the proposal had been approved, it would have been a preliminary step to revive the lengthy negotiating process with the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, to discuss areas from the economy to human rights. Voters would have needed to approve any negotiated deal.
The influential fishing industry led opposition to the referendum out of fear that the bloc’s common fisheries policy would allow Spanish, Dutch and other trawlers into its valuable waters.
Descendants of Vikings who settled in Iceland have lived off the sea for centuries and the bountiful catches of cod, haddock and capelin are central to its national identity. It won its independence from Denmark in 1944 and has a proud history of refusing to be pushed around by bigger and richer European nations, winning the so-called Cod Wars with Britain in the 1970s over its fishing grounds.
Melley reported from London.
Supporters of the Yes campaign celebrate after Reykjavik results put their side into a narrow nationwide lead during an election-night gathering in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
A supporter waves a European Union flag during an election-night gathering for the yes in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
Former Icelandic Prime Minister and Centre Party leader Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, left, Independence Party leader Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, center, and Progressive Party leader Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir talk during a No campaign election-night gathering in Reykjavik, Iceland, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
Leaders of the No campaign react as early results from rural Iceland put the No side ahead during an election-night gathering in Reykjavik, Iceland, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Di Marco)
