[게임위드인] K-Game’s global market ‘strategy’ seen at G-Star

G-Star 2024 celebrates its 20th anniversary

(Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Joo-hwan = On the morning of the 14th, the first day of the opening of G-Star 2024, a logo sculpture is installed at the BEXCO site in Busan ahead of the opening of the exhibition hall. 2024.11.14 jujuk@yna.co.kr

(Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Joo-hwan = G-STAR, Korea’s largest game exhibition held in Busan every November, is a milestone event that informs the direction of the Korean game industry after next year.

Major domestic game companies set up large B2C (business-to-consumer transaction) booths at G-Star, which opened on the 14th, and demonstrated new games that will be released to visitors from the end of the year to after next year.

We looked at the strategies of the domestic gaming industry among the numerous entries that graced BEXCO until the 17th.

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G-STAR 2024 hot heat

(Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Son Hyeong-ju = G-Star 2024, Korea’s largest game show, which opened at BEXCO in Busan on the 14th, is crowded with visitors. G-Star, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, will introduce a variety of new games and information technology (IT) to domestic and foreign game consumers and industry officials at the B2C (business-to-consumer transaction) and B2B (business-to-business) booth for four days until the 17th. . 2024.11.14 handbrother@yna.co.kr

◇ Is it a new IP or an expansion of an existing series? Game industry concerned about IP

The most obvious trend was concerns about game intellectual property (IP).

Nexon, the main sponsor of G-Star, demonstrated a total of four games to the public at this year’s G-Star.

Among the demonstration works, ‘First Berserker: Kazan’ and ‘Project Overkill’ are games that expand upon the world view and characters of Nexon’s masterpiece ‘Dungeon & Fighter’.

The original ‘Dungeon & Fighter’ is a 2D-based online action role-playing game (RPG), but ‘Kazan’ is a console game featuring heavy hitting and high-quality 3D graphics, and ‘Overkill’ brings the action of the original to a 3D environment. It is a reinterpreted work.

Nexon’s entries like this are a good example of Nexon’s growth strategy ‘vertical expansion’, which expands existing successful and popular IPs to various platforms and genres.

‘Overkill’ main screen

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Webzen with large exhibition space and cosplay models[069080]introduced two new IP games at this G-Star, including the action role-playing game (RPG) ‘Dragon Sword’ and the subculture (Japanese animation-style) collecting game ‘Tervis’.

It is seen as an attempt to break away from the lineup centered on older multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as ‘MU’ and ‘R2’.

The booth demonstration product ‘Dragon Sword’ is a game where three characters are combined to engage in battle, and it showed a control system similar to ‘Genshin’.

It also includes original elements, such as causing an enemy’s abnormal status and then delivering a powerful attack with a linked skill, or solving puzzles in a dungeon.

Demonstration of Webzen’s ‘Dragon Sword’

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Netmarble[251270]In direct contrast to this, the company declared that it will continue to pursue a strategy of actively borrowing external IP-based games.

At this year’s G-Star, Netmarble submitted its own IP-based game ‘Mongil: STAR DIVE’ as well as ‘Game of Thrones: King’s Road’, which is based on HBO’s drama ‘Game of Thrones’.

Netmarble founder Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk, who visited the booth on the 14th, also said that he would pursue a ‘transmedia’ strategy to expand non-game IP to various media outlets, including games.

Demonstration of Krafton’s ‘Dincom Together’

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◇ K-game breaks away from the one-size-fits-all mobile MMORPG

In this year’s G-Star, it was notable that it broke away from focusing on similar MMORPGs and expanded into various genres that the domestic game industry had not attempted before.

Krafton[259960]unveiled the life simulation game ‘Enjoy’ (inZOI), which received attention from fans around the world when demonstrated at the European game show Gamescom last August, as well as the casual game ‘Dincome Together’ and the top-down shooting game ‘Project Ark’.

Among these, ‘Dincome Together’ is a survival life simulation genre rarely seen in the Korean game industry.

The ‘Dincome Together’ that I experienced in the field was a lot of fun, such as cutting down trees and mining ore on an island to build a village, collecting various insects, and visiting an island that someone else had cultivated.

The cute character design reminiscent of Nintendo’s ‘Animal Crossing’ is also something to see.

When building a building or processing materials, you have to wait a certain amount of time, but it is expected that a profit model (BM) will be introduced by selling items that shorten this time when it is officially released in the future.

Pearl Abyss[263750]demonstrated its masterpiece open world action RPG ‘Red Desert’ to domestic general audiences for the first time at this G-Star.

‘Red Desert’ is a triple-A PC/console game with a single-player focus that is rare in Korea. The specific release date has not been revealed, but as development is in the final stages, the industry is expecting a release next year. It has been 7 years since Pearl Abyss began developing ‘Red Desert’ in 2018.

‘Red Desert’ received a lot of attention, with lines forming for more than two hours from the start of the event to the end, even on weekdays.

Demonstration of Lionheart Studio’s ‘Valhalla Survival’

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Lionheart Studio demonstrated ‘Valhalla Survival’. This is a so-called ‘Vampire Survivors’ game, which was influenced by the indie game ‘Vampire Survivors’, which appeared like a comet in 2022. It is a genre in which you move a character that automatically performs attacks to defeat the flocking enemies and strengthen the character.

Although it is made with full 3D graphics, the main focus is easy operation and a refreshing hitting feeling, and compared to the MMORPG made by this company, ‘Odin: Valhalla Rising’, it was a work that anyone could enjoy for a while.

hive[352820]Hive IM, a game and content subsidiary of Hive IM, was the only company participating in this year’s G-Star to have a large booth centered around the PC and mobile MMORPG ‘Architect: Land of Exile.’

However, the ‘Architect’ demonstration also pursued new gaming characteristics close to console games, with elements such as free flying, rock climbing, and swimming, and non-targeting-based combat, which are difficult to find in existing domestic MMORPGs.

Demonstration of HiveIM’s ‘Architect: Land of Exile’

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◇ Steam, first booth at G-Star… Saudi oil money also joins

Although the event was still not focused on Korean game companies, the performance of overseas game companies was also noticeable.

Valve, an American game company that operates the PC game platform Steam, participated in this year’s ‘G-Star Indie Showcase 2.0 Galaxy’ booth and promoted its portable gaming PC ‘Steam Deck’.

Visitors were able to freely experience various PC games using the Steam Deck placed in the exhibition space.

Valve officials also introduced the Steam Deck development process and Steam’s business strategy at the conference ‘G-CON’ held during G-STAR, attracting attention from industry officials.

PC game platform ‘Steam’ logo at G-Star 2024

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Qiddiyah, a game-themed new city project promoted by the Saudi Arabian government, also unusually opened a large booth at G-Star’s second exhibition hall and introduced the experiential shooting game ‘Outpost Omega’.

It was a game where you had to kill alien insects by moving a gun-shaped controller with a screen, and it was a theme park-type game that was rare at G-Star.

Kiddiya attracted the attention of fans by inviting popular celebrities such as Jang Won-young, a member of the popular group IVE, Cho Dan of QWER, Younghoon and Q of The Boyz, to the booth. On the 15th, Kim Ye-ji, the silver medalist in shooting at the Paris Olympics, visited.

Qidiya’s booth

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In addition, Chinese game company Hypergriff’s subculture action game ‘Arknight: Endfield’ booth was crowded with many visitors to the game demonstration and on-site events.

jujuk@yna.co.kr

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2024/11/16 11:00 Sent