泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ A good player is not always a good coach

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

A good player is not always a good coach

 

A long time ago, I read an article in which Cho Hun-hyun, the South Korean 9-dan professional Go player, mentioned Lee Chang-ho, the South Korean professional Go player of 9-dan rank. Summarizing the story, I don't exactly remember the specifics, Cho thought that Lee was a fool or a rare genius when he saw the little student.

I meet many video game developers because of my job. As an ex-game developer, the time with them is very enjoyable. But some project managers or team managers used to make me get a wry smile. Because they were sure that they can run an ideal company if they become CEO. It might be a wrong assessment like the first Korean 9 dan player Cho; I don't mean that I'm at the same level as one of the greatest players of all-time. But, in most cases, they say that they would not do such a thing if they were the incumbent CEO pointing out his/her mistakes. The undeniable fact is that a president often makes mistakes. I don't want to say that there are many representative directors who repeat the mistakes. I exactly try to get across that most working-level game developers consider game development equal to game studio management.

You can just think, for simplicity, about a video-game company that it makes and publishes a game and it is the only job to show its ability to make a good game. But this is completely wrong. This would be nothing short of saying, "An excellent film director can be a great head of a film studio." or "An outstanding player can be a great coach and owner." Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea to a historic 4th-place finish in 2002 World Cup, was not popular when he was a soccer player. Many great game producers and project managers romanticize the future concentrating all their energy on making good games and some establish their own game studio based on past success at their former workplace, however, not all of them have been successful.

What makes the difference? We need to know the difference between the production system and management system to answer the question. Making a game is a process of controlling "now" as manufacturing a product. It's the process of focusing on managing production schedule, handling "now" continually to achieve goals for each step, and setting a business plan for the current plan to go off well. In addition, it is necessary to control quality and compensate for the defect and enhance step-by-step output. Running a business, on the other hand, is the process of predicting and preparing for the future. A business owner needs to overcome a financial problem in the future with an accurate prediction, predict the future market to provide effective solutions, and share values and vision with all employees to bring them together.

As previously mentioned, I'm ineligible for evaluating the potential ability of competent working-level staff as the next CEO. I simply think that I, as a venture capitalist, won't make an investment in the company in which a president doesn't recognize the difference. A good player can't always be a good coach and an able factory manager can't make a book on success as a good CEO. Likewise, there is no guarantee of success of a great game producer and project manager as a great president. While chatting on, I got to know that many game developers long for running their own business because they want to make a game as they wish or accomplish various personal goals. I don't think that is wrong. I just want them to completely recognize the difference between production and management and thoroughly prepare in advance before establishing a business. I hope to see a lot of good CEOs from talented game developers like Sun Dong-yol, a former excellent baseball player who became a great coach later.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui

 

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ The first step is localization to enter the global market

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

The first step is localization to enter the global market

 

Game Next Summit 2014 was held not long ago. A lot of people in the gaming world participated in the event and there was plenty of conversation. It was about performance in 2012 and expectations or concerns, various service index, and directions in 2014. Of course, I don't write this to introduce the game event. I'd like to mention a lot of gaming companies considering planning to take their firms abroad.

Looking at the domestic situation in the recent mobile game market, a small number of games generate the majority of profits and many in the bottom barely make a much smaller profit than their production costs. Despite such reality, consumer's expectations increase for game quality, which leads to cost so much to make. Of course, there is no fairy tale where every developer earns money as long as they make games. In spite of a game with the efforts and cost of a lot of employees, it cannot generate profits if the game doesn't have a better chance of succeeding.

Unsurprisingly, every product is traded on the market and sales have been up and down depending on the volume and price of the products. Likewise, mobile game sales and profits depend on markets, users, revenue per paying users. While there had been various marketing strategies to increase the number of users and revenue per paying users, the latest trend in the gaming industry is to extend its business abroad to expand the market itself.

But I found that most individual developers are badly prepared for opening overseas doors when I actually talk with them. They mainly rely on an indefinite plan based on a vague story and presentation of other companies. Besides, they seem not to have gauged the exact market situation. The Korean mobile game industry has grown dramatically and it is also expected to show better outcomes in the future. It is natural that game makers try to expand potential users, increase revenue per user, and enter overseas markets and now is the time for them to rack their brain on how to grow. But a video game is not an industrial product but cultural content, which appeals to consumers' emotion than persuade through their rationality. The overseas expansion without an understanding of overseas markets and cultural practice is just paying for an expensive tuition fee to learn about cultural differences.

In early 2000, many foreign video games were localized to launch them in Korea. Some of them were hugely popular and the other performed dismally, however, there are no examples of success with a mistranslation of the game's text. The correct translation is common courtesy for a user in the country. Yet many games still don't meet user's expectations about localization. I felt ashamed when I heard that a manager of an overseas publisher said, "I'd rather recommend some of them to use Google translate."

As the competition is getting much tougher in South Korea, domestic game developers will have to consider overseas expansion for a while. I also support the companies to succeed in overseas markets. I just hope that the firms won't spend extra production costs due to clumsy localization and poor game service.

I used to hear that foreign publishers take too much profit considering the work they are doing. And I also heard that many game developers want to get involved in the game service directly because of revenue allocation. It is challengeable for developers with enough money and sufficient preparations. But I'd like to stop the firms, which show an interest in revenue allocation without preparations, from planning global service. They can share the profits only when revenue is created. Clumsy localization, poor game service, and misguided marketing only pump up production expenses.

Recently many foreign publishers are luckily interested in global service of domestic games. Of course, some firms might be poor, however, there should be good publishers which will make a good partnership and desirable results. Overseas expansion is emerging as trends now and seems not to be an option. Partnership with a good foreign publisher is a good way if a domestic developer lacks confidence in localization. Proper localization is the first step for making inroads into foreign markets and it's worth spending. I hope that a lot of domestic game companies will be successful in pioneering overseas markets.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui

 

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ Looking for Ijungballyong

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Looking for Ijungballyong

 

Not too long ago, I was asked about my pen name "泥中蟠龍(Ijungballyong)". To put it simply, it's a hidden dragon, a big snake called Imoogi, which tries to turn into a dragon. The full text of the poem is as follows:

 

八九年間始欲衰 (It began to decline in 8-9 years)

至十三年無孑遺 (There is nothing left in 13 years)

到頭天命有所歸 (You did your best and submitted to Heaven's will)

泥中蟠龍向天飛 (The dragon hidden in the mud will ascend)

 

You may find the details from The Records of the Three Kingdoms. It's been a half year since I started to regularly write the columns and I didn't take an opportunity to explain about the pen name. It's not the only reason I want to talk about it. I'd like to clarify the third line "到頭天命有所歸" of the poem. It means that the time has come at last. It expresses that Liu Bei, who survived in a dangerous and difficult time and situation, now get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a great man. The only survivor can grab an opportunity. 

There is a famous line from a film, "It is not the strong that survive, but the survivor that is strong." Employees now have a hard time due to low performance in the second half of last year. A few companies with their strong performance assume the attitude of winner-takes-all and the majority of developers and publishers face dark time. Yet, a survivor can be stronger and it will ascend to heaven when it catches a golden opportunity. 

Many online game makers from 2012 to about 2013 did not survive because they wanted to make a big-budget game with from 20 to 30 billion won as they used to be. But some firms developed a tiny-budget game like Ganjang-gejang (crab marinated in soy sauce) full of crab roe now are highlighted among newly released online games. 

I believe that it's time for mobile game developers to prepare to be survived. Survivors only can wait for another chance. They should reduce their size and generate steady profits with a small but solidly-built game to survive and grab the chance. It'll sound corny, but it's a blessing in disguise. I hope to see a lot of ascending dragon like Ijungballyong at this time next year.

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui