This photo, provided by Netmarble Corp., shows the company’s “Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds.”
SEOUL, June 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s gaming industry is accelerating its entry into the Chinese market, following the Chinese government’s grant of a series of game service licenses to Korean-made games since late last year.
China has been reluctant to approve South Korean video games, seemingly as an economic retaliation against Seoul due to the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.
Last week, Smilegate Holdings Inc.’s “Epic Seven” officially launched its services in the Chinese market and achieved approximately the 10th position in terms of revenue across various app markets.
The highly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Smilegate, “Lost Ark,” is scheduled for a launch to all users on July 20.
Nexon Co. recently initiated a closed beta test (CBT) of its Japanese animation-style game, “Blue Archive,” in China.
The number of pre-registrations for the Chinese server, which commenced on March 31, has already reached about 2.9 million and is anticipated to exceed 3 million soon.
Devsisters Corp. conducted the first CBT for its flagship game, “Cookie Run: Kingdom,” in mid-June after launching pre-registration last April.
Meanwhile, Netmarble Corp. unveiled plans during a conference call for its first-quarter results to release a total of five games in the Chinese market by the end of this year, including “Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds” and “A3: Still Alive.”
Local brokerages have raised target prices for domestic game companies that received approvals in China, clearly indicating their expectations of an improvement in the financial performance of these gaming companies.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
