[ad_1]
South Korea is the world's fourth largest mobile gaming market. More than half of the South Korean population plays games on their smartphone. They spent a total of $ 5.6 billion in mobile titles in 2018, according to the Newzoo market research firm, making it a market on which all developers should enter.
But what does the game culture in South Korea look like? How did this influence the types of games and game companies that shaped this culture – both in the past and now? And how does this help mobile phone companies succeed? We looked at the South Korean scene to let you into one of the world's fastest growing gaming industries.
A historical culture of the video game
Gambling has been a staple of South Korea for decades. Getting to the local LAN gaming center, called "Bangs," after school is a hobby for many students and adults. Rows of players of all ages will sit in front of computers on the fast Internet and play games until two or three in the morning. Many internationally renowned esport stars have started in these streets in the streets of Seoul.
As South Koreans love their MMOs, it is not surprising that League of Legends is at the top of the list of the most played games. PUBG, Overwatch and FIFA Online are also very present. Even after 20 years, the game that probably created the electronic sport, we know, Starcraft: Brood War, continues to work well.
South Korea was the first country to organize sporting events two decades ago. They devoted the television channels to the competitive game well before the rest of the world knew the esports. While other countries were still talking about home consoles in 2000, the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism sponsored World Cyber Olympics alongside Samsung and Microsoft. It is this avant-garde attitude that has also helped make South Korea one of the main aspirations to become a mobile gaming center.
The launch of smartphone and app stores has benefited territories that perfectly combine hardware manufacturers, software developers and the Internet infrastructure. South Korea was one of those countries. The strength of Samsung, the long-standing success of companies like NCSoft and the country's willingness to invest quickly in the development of the Internet infrastructure allowed it to transform its wide range of players into mobile users.
The size and shape of the South Korean mobile market
According to Newzoo, 53% of South Koreans play mobile games at least once a month. Mobile games are much more common than console games (19%) or PCs (37%).
South Korea has the highest smartphone penetration rate in Asia and ranks 11th in the world. Korea had 34.6 million smartphone users in 2018 and is expected to reach 39 million in 2021, a penetration rate of 68% last year.
Samsung, the South Korean manufacturer of smartphones, has played a fundamental role in the proliferation of smartphones. In South Korea, two out of three devices in October 2018 were Samsung phones. At the same time, Apple barely 22.2%, and LG 10.4%. Four of the top five most used devices in South Korea were all variants of the Samsung Galaxy phone and more than half of all active devices in the country are upscale.
Examine the South Korean player
While other Asian countries favor younger players, the average South Korean mobile player tends to be an adult, often with children. The largest subgroup of mobile gamers is between 21 and 35 (19%), followed by the 36 to 50 (15%), according to Mintegral. More than anything, these numbers testify to the high penetration rates and acceptance rates of mobile gaming culture in Korea at all ages.
The South Korean mobile gaming market generated $ 3.2 billion last year. It is interesting to note that the average revenue per paying player in South Korea is among the highest in the world, coming second only to Japan, according to Newzoo. Mintegral found that 40% of smartphone users spent money on mobile games in 2018. Often, gamers spent this money on bonuses (41%), playable characters (38%) and cosmetics / skins. (35%).
Which games have the most success? Role games. 90% of all revenue generated by mobile games came from this genre.
Often, they come from existing IP technology, with the top 10 iOS games in terms of revenue from popular franchises such as Lineage, Black Desert, Ragnarok, Three Kingdoms and Marvel.
But there is also an appetite for casual games, many of them succeeding thanks to South Korea's dominant messaging app, KakaoTalk (which functions in part as a gaming platform).
The commercial landscape of mobile gaming
For companies that stand out in South Korea, local publishers dominate the market. Netmarble generated more than 10% of the country's mobile gaming revenue in the first half of 2018.
Games from foreign studios can still be successful in South Korea. We see this with strategy games. Recently, players were thirsty for strategy games, but local brands such as Elex, NCSoft and Gravity, which focused on MMORPGs, have very few. However, international gaming companies have been able to meet this need of players, suggesting that foreign companies can successfully enter the sector.
But if they want to do it, it is important to note that the South Korean market has to overcome a number of regulatory problems.
"The Korean gaming industry is weighed down by government regulations that undermine the competitiveness of local developers," said Hwang Sung-ik, president of Korea Mobile Game Association (KMGA), in an interview with The Korea Times. The regulations target loot chests and aim to protect young players from excessive gambling by limiting playing time.
This means that it is important to design your game accordingly so that it can hit the market.
South Korea is a paradise for mobile games. The country's incredible infrastructure, its deeply integrated game culture and high penetration rates offer a lot to win.
Although Korean gamers prefer local intellectual property, Western companies have plenty of time to engage in trend genres and find opportunities at the forefront of technical innovation.
But it's important to make sure your game complies with local regulations so you can take advantage of this opportunity in the Korean mobile gaming market.
Jeff Sue is GM, Americas at Mintegral, a programmatic and interactive advertising platform for AI-based mobile marketing.
[ad_2]
Source link