Nexon's Experiment 'Creator Sponsorship' Receives Positive Response... New Release 'Hit2' Faces Harsh Criticism

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Nexon’s industry-first ‘Creator Sponsorship Program’ is gaining positive responses. It differs from the traditional approach of paying huge advertising fees to famous influencers to conduct ‘homework broadcasts’ for new releases. However, the newly applied sponsorship system in the new release ‘Hit2’ has been met with harsh criticism, casting a shadow over Nexon’s outlook for the second half of the year.

Reducing Marketing Costs, Enhancing Fairness... Creator Sponsorship Program

According to the gaming industry on the 26th, Nexon applied a sponsorship system for the first time with the release of the highly anticipated Hit2 in the second half of the year, where a portion of the money users spend while playing is returned to creators.

Previously, it was common to hire famous broadcasters from YouTube, AfreecaTV, Twitch, etc., and have them conduct ‘homework broadcasts’ as a marketing method for new releases. The problem was that the advertising fees paid to these broadcasters were substantial, and direct support from game companies sometimes led to complaints from general users about fairness.

In response, Nexon’s newly applied ‘Creator Sponsorship Program’ attracted a large number of applicants. From the recruitment held from the 18th to the 23rd before the release, over 250 applicants applied, and among them, 194 who met the minimum criteria were selected as ‘Hit2’ creators.

Users’ positive responses continued, with some creators attracting more than 1,000 sponsors even before the game’s release. Creator tiers are divided into Yellow, Green, and Blue, with the highest Blue tier receiving 5% of the payment amount as sponsorship.

Users praised the fact that creators did not unilaterally promote the game through marketing sponsorships but openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the game. Nexon’s establishment of a virtuous cycle by reducing marketing costs and reinvesting the saved funds into the game is seen as positive. Recently, game companies have been focusing all efforts on optimizing marketing expenses due to increased labor costs.

Despite 5 Billion KRW Revenue on Launch Day... Continuing Harsh Criticism

Hit2 received intense attention as Nexon’s major anticipated release for the second half of the year. Especially as the first work of Nexon Games, formed by the merger of Nexon GT and NetGames, the importance of Hit2 was high.

Amid high expectations, Hit2 recorded the number one spot in revenue on the Apple App Store just one day after its release, showing a strong initial response. The daily revenue on the first day exceeded 5 billion KRW, reportedly the highest among Nexon’s mobile MMORPGs.

However, despite the high revenue, the user atmosphere is cold. It is being evaluated as failing to overcome the limitations of existing MMORPGs. In particular, it is criticized for having a game operation style similar to the competitor NCSoft’s Lineage series and for not surpassing Kakao Games’ ‘Odin: Valhalla Rising,’ which was released about a year earlier, in terms of graphics and other aspects.

The stock price also plummeted on the launch day, the 25th. The day before the release, Nexon Games’ stock price rose 6.48% compared to the previous trading day, seemingly reflecting expectations for the new release. However, on the launch day, as profit-taking sales poured in with the resolution of new release expectations and harsh user reviews continued, the stock price plunged 17%. Hit2’s harsh criticism is expected to significantly impact Nexon Games’ performance.

Choi Sung-wook, head of Nexon Publishing Live Division, stated, “While focusing on the inherent fun of the MMORPG genre, we prepared many attempts to break the mold so that users can experience more autonomous and freer play in ‘Hit2.’ We will do our best to provide a trustworthy and reliable service in the long term.”

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