泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 _ Looking back on 10 years in the mobile gaming industry

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Looking back on 10 years in the mobile gaming industry

 

I have worked in the gaming industry since a cold winter day in January 2002. Looking back, writing a column related to a game, it seems as if ages had passed since then when I was an amateur gamer who had no background in the field.

The reason I give a long-winded explanation is to mention what I felt during a recent meeting for investment with a developer about the constraints of a mobile device for a mobile game. The developer, who has played an online game for a long time, talked about mobile computer device bringing about inconvenience: small screen, low specification, and difficulty of customization due to various devices.

Listening to him, it brought back the moment when I just set foot in the gaming industry, which made me be lost in the old memories. Mobile phones featuring color displays, one of the technologies that phone manufacturers were evaluated by, were first introduced in 2002. Phone makers also competed for a better sound such as 16 or 40 poly sound. And it was the time when flip phones were commonly used. A slide phone, which is rare to find these days, however, was considered as one of the most innovative technologies, was released in 2002 and its commercial formed attractive subjects of conversation in those days.

Let's back to the point. There have been many changes in most industries in the last 10 years and the mobile gaming industry is at the forefront of those changes. Early mobile game developers used to stay up all night to reduce storage space like 1-2 kB due to poor device environment. Given my first game with 127 kB, the recent environment, in which mobile games of over 100 MB are common, is quite different just like independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. I do remember and I was deeply impressed when a first mobile game of 1 MB was released 10 years ago. It is still fresh in my memory about the MB-capacity mobile game which was finally come out. The earliest mobile game developers had to make dozens of different versions in accordance with image resolution, mobile device, and mobile carrier, which is compared to today's slightly different versions depending on the producer and wireless carrier.

Mobile game market, as I mentioned in the beginning, is the fast-growing industrial field. It is needless to that it will move ahead for quite some time. It seems hard to expect what is coming out in 10 years because I cannot help laughing at mobile games released 10 years earlier. Picturing a local mobile game as the leader in the global market, I hope that I will enjoy talking about memories with device constraints and game-making difficulties, etc.

 

※ 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 _ Video game development and investment

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Video game development and investment

 

I have serially written a column about the video gaming market and video game development over a period of time. But this time, I'd like to talk about a game developer which I, as a venture capitalist, invest in. I don't intend to whine about it.

The reason I chose this topic because of what I went through recently. This column is actually for game developers which attract investment on the borrower's side. The recent experience made me feel bad is quite simple. A cash-strapped game studio having developed a good game asked me to make an investment and I couldn't help but turn down the suggestion after thorough consideration. Some readers might think that what the problem is if there is a good game. Besides, the majority of leaders of game developers actually do think so.

It takes a long time and effort for a developer to make a game in general. The process includes game design, development, and graphic art, etc. Even a very simple game takes at least 3~4 months from designing to publishing, up to 5~6 years. Of course, I don't mean that it takes 5~6 years to implement investment. But, on the contrary to this, it absolutely cannot be done in 1~2 weeks.

When it comes to investment in a video game, a venture capitalist (VC) decides to invest money after examining a developer, the production team, and its business condition etc. in 1~2 weeks to a few months and additionally looking into a difficulty in an external problem, a legal issue, the accuracy of the data from the company etc. And the investor should discuss the details about the condition of investment with the investee and perform the basic administrative procedure. It takes 2~3 months to 1 year for the whole process.

Let's go back to the story of the game studio in the beginning. When I had the meeting with the representative, the developer was in a sticky situation where employees weren't being paid regularly and the leader came to me after doing everything he could. I felt sorry as I told him frankly, however, investment to the developer is actually quite challenging. Because there is a possibility of causing troubles within a few months while going over issues related to the investment; talented staffs might move to other companies due to unpaid salaries and the investor might find other debt which he/she didn't catch. What I want to talk about is that the investee should come to ask the investor at least 6 months before actually he/she needs the extra money. That way VC is able to have enough time for a proper review of the data from the developer and also have affection for the company. And, last but not least, it is human nature to want to do someone a favor whom I've been watching for a long time. So I hope that many representatives of video game makers which want to attract investment go over the expense plan and get things ready early in advance. The investment process cannot be done in 1~2 weeks like as if a new game cannot come into the world in such a short time. Failure to provide an opportunity for the potential firm is personally very sad and heart-breaking.

※ 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 _ Hang in there, Korean games!

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Hang in there, Korean games!

 

The Admiral: Roaring Currents, a South Korean naval war film, has recently smashed the nation's box office records. Summing up for people who haven't watched the movie, it's a story of the historical Battle of Myeongnyang in which Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin, who were seriously defeated in the Battle of Chilcheollyang, led the only 12 ships remaining in his command to a great victory against an invading Japanese fleet of 333 vessels. The number of viewers crossed the 16 million mark as of August 2014. Of course, I don't want to talk about the film. Actually, I'd like to write about the question below:

 

Is it possible for The Admiral doing well on foreign markets?

 

Cultural products, which are generally called 'content', are appealing to the member of a particular group or society sharing the same culture. Of course, I don't mean that it's wrong. But it's not easy to inspire consumers from other cultures with items produced based on different cultural backgrounds. Although, in my opinion, there is no big universal-emotion barrier or cardinal-values gap, cultural items especially express delicate emotions of the member sharing the same culture so that outsiders cannot be able to share the same experience with them. Therefore, it's hard to export content. Sure, the only exception is North American content which is already universal and beloved around the world.

When it comes to a video game, it is a totally different story. Game content already maintains a certain level of an international universality and domestic video games are not much different from European or North American ones. Because an internationally common method of the user interface or delivering a message are used and there are many game stories set in the medieval ages or fantasy world and based on Records of the Three Kingdoms—most Asians, not focusing on something traditional or Koreans only can share, easily understand. These subjects of the game stories are one of the forces for the universality. Besides, a game story, unlike videos such as films dealing with delicate feelings and subtle emotions, just needs the smooth flow of stories covering all over the game, which relatively easier to appeal to users in different cultures.

The video game as a cultural product is already the key Korean export. And it shows stronger overseas performance than any other content. Com2uS has grown with a market value of over W1 trillion thanks to good results of Sumonnor's war: Sky Arena in the overseas market. There were local games like Lineage, Dungeon Fighter Online, and CrossFire in the past. And numerous local games are making good performances in the overseas market.

This is what I wanted to talk about to some people who call for restrictions on online games for video game addiction. Last but not least, a film, when it was first created, was criticized because it was harmful to teenagers. I finish this column hoping that the video game won't be another victim of the funny story.

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

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui