Shift of Game Focus from PC to Mobile

47% of the 15.35 Trillion KRW Domestic Market This Year... PC Games Account for 34%
However, Concerns Over Declining Global Competitiveness of Domestic PC Games Remain

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] The weight of the gaming industry is rapidly shifting from PC to mobile. Game companies are focusing on developing new mobile games, which require lower development costs compared to the high-risk PC games. However, there are concerns that domestic PC games, which once boasted global competitiveness, are losing their strength as companies concentrate solely on mobile game development.

According to the industry on the 17th, among the PC games scheduled for release this year by the 3N (Nexon, Netmarble, NCSoft), there are no major titles to speak of. Netmarble and NCSoft do not plan to release any new PC games this year, and only Nexon is considering the release timing of PC games 'KartRider: Drift' and 'KurtzPel'. On the other hand, the atmosphere around mobile games is quite the opposite. Following the success of 'A3: Still Alive', Netmarble is in the final stages of preparing new mobile titles based on its own intellectual property (IP), such as 'Seven Knights 2' and 'Seven Knights Revolution'. NCSoft, which succeeded in popularizing 'Lineage 2M' last year, plans to release mobile games based on its own IP this year, including 'Aion 2' and 'Blade & Soul 2'. Nexon, which achieved success with 'V4' last year, is placing high hopes on the release of 'Dungeon & Fighter (DNF) Mobile' and 'Baram-ui Nara: Yeon', both based on long-standing PC games.

According to the 'Korea Game White Paper' by the Korea Creative Content Agency, the domestic game market size is expected to be about 15.35 trillion KRW this year, with mobile games accounting for 47% (7.25 trillion KRW) and PC games 34% (5.32 trillion KRW). Looking at the 3N's performance last year also shows the growing share of mobile games. Over 95% of Netmarble's 2.1755 trillion KRW revenue last year came from mobile games, and 59% of NCSoft's 1.7012 trillion KRW revenue was thanks to mobile games. For Nexon, 76% of its 2.684 trillion KRW revenue last year was from PC games, and 24% from mobile games. Since the PC game 'DNF', which accounts for about half of Nexon's revenue in China, is showing signs of slowing down, and titles like V4 and DNF Mobile need to take over as cash cows, Nexon's mobile game share is expected to increase further.

However, experts point out that domestic game companies' focus on mobile game development, which is easier to generate profits, is lowering the overall global competitiveness of the industry. Professor Jeong-hyun Wi of Chung-Ang University, who serves as president of the Korea Game Society, stated, "The market for PC games is still large globally, but following China and Japan, domestic companies are focusing only on mobile game development as a trend, causing the domestic PC games that had some competitiveness to be neglected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.