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[Korean game industry: Present and future]
Second in a three-part series ‘The game industry here has been eagerly awaiting the release of these masterpieces.’ November 12, 2009
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Contrary to the increasingly chilly weather outside, the domestic computer game industry is heating up as winter approaches with several highly anticipated releases scheduled for the latter half of this year. Coming on the heels of NCsoft’s “Aion” last year, Korean game developers are focusing on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (also known as MMORPGs), browser-based releases and titles that incorporate Chinese characters. Gamers rave about MMORPGs, which allow a huge number of players to interact with each other as they explore virtual worlds via the Internet. Leading the pack in this area as far as upcoming games from Korea go is “Tera: The Exiled Realm of Arborea,” which closed its first beta test in August and is slated for release in coming months. Spearheaded by Bluehole Studio, the game took three years, 32 billion won ($26.9 million) and the involvement of 100 top game developers in Korea to create. Tera features a non-targeting battle mode, which sets it apart from other MMORPGs already on the market. In this mode, players are able to directly attack without having to select targets. This feature was evaluated by a batch of testers, who raved that it helped maximize the excitement of the game. “Argo,” another MMORPG expected to hold its first beta test at the end of this year, is the first title in a five-game series by MGame Corp., which ranks as one of Korea’s top game developers. Additionally, Nexon plans to release more information on its upcoming title “Ever Planet,” which incorporates fairy tale-style, personalized online role-playing set against the backdrop of distant worlds.
Also making waves is “Dragon Ball Online,” which is based on the popular Japanese manga series of the same name. Roughly 350,000 players participated in CJ Internet’s first premium test of the game here last month. Gamers raved about the similarity of the story and characters in the game with the works of Toriyama Akira, the artist behind the Dragon Ball manga series. For those who want to bypass the long hours required to download and install software to play MMORPGs, browser-based games are an attractive alternative. Programmers are increasingly turning their attention to these types of games, which don’t use as much of users’ computer hard drives and resources. Also, because it is possible to enjoy these games with relatively slow Internet connections, they are gaining more traction in the United States, China, Germany and France, where online access can be limited. In Korea, developers hadn’t focused much on these types of titles - called Web games here - due to the popularity of other types of games in the domestic market. However, now that “Tribal Wars,” developed by InnoGames, and “Age of Seventh Dragon,” imported from China, have picked up steam here, the situation has changed. NHN, NCsoft, CJ Internet, Nexon and other game programmers have confirmed that browser games can be a viable revenue source, and they are now researching how to develop browser games of their own. Local companies are also eyeing games that incorporate Chinese characters. In April, NHN released a MMORPG game called “Hanja Maru” that allows players to learn Chinese characters while attacking monsters. It has attracted around 40,000 players since its release and generates around 300 million won in monthly profits. NCsoft also is developing a game using Chinese characters after the success of its game “Magic Hanja” for the Nintendo DS. “The game industry here has been eagerly awaiting the release of these masterpieces later this year after a lackluster first half,” said Jung Wook, the director of Hangame, an affiliate of NHN Corp. By Park Myeong-gi [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr] |
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