(image: Netmarble Corp.)
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — With Apple Inc. introducing an adult certification procedure to its app store in South Korea, it seems that games for adults that had not been released until now are now being launched en masse.
According to the gaming industry, so-called web board games such as go-stop and poker were the first to open the door for release last Friday, when Apple’s App Store began its adult certification.
NHN Entertainment Corp., South Korea’s leading online game and online service provider, released three games for adults, including mobile poker, all at once.
“We developed and prepared a game that was previously serviced on Google Play in time for the start of the app store’s adult certification,” an NHN source said.
Neowiz Inc. has also released three adult games. The expansion of the iOS-based market will also have a positive impact on sales, the company said.
However, the three largest players in the gaming industry – Nexon Co., Netmarble Corp., and NCSOFT Corp., the so-called ‘3N’ – are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Although NCSOFT’s flagship game “Lineage M” was expected to be released on the App Store as an adult version, there has been no significant movement yet.
Unlike web board games, which can be developed relatively simply and offer guaranteed profitability, experts say that large games such as MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) will not have to be rushed to be release on app stores where sales volume is small.
According to mobile big data platform company IGAWorks, sales of Apple’s App Store games in the first half of this year were 198.9 billion won, which is only 12 percent of Google Play’s sales of 1.65 trillion won (US$1.35 billion).
This was even lower than the market value of One Store at 249.2 billion won.
“In the case of Lineage, the company probably still does not feel the need to re-launch products in the Apple store as sales are strong on Google Play,” said an official from the gaming industry.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
