泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] ChinaJoy or SaunaJoy

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

ChinaJoy or SaunaJoy

Recently, I went to China to attend ChinaJoy, China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, held in Shanghai. The digital entertainment expo, which is comparable to the world's top three game shows, was an unforgettable large-scale international event. It was far different from others in exhibition spaces and audience figures.

 

Participation in the event was not that pleasant for me. I suffered from unusual heatwaves and muggy air as it is nicknamed "SaunaJoy", which made me lose weight of 2 Kilograms during the game show. In addition, I had to be the butt of joke among my company when I was mistaken for a Chinese by a flight attendant on the plane to Shanghai, someone in Shanghai Airport asked me if he could borrow my lighter in Chinese, and a stranger on the street of the largest city of China asked me the way in Chinese. Their deeds completely broke my hearts. (It seems that I need to seriously consider next visit.) Just cut the small talk and let's talk about ChinaJoy itself.

 

I think there are three key points in the game show.

To begin with, in spite of heavy opposition, when it comes to game-development ability, China has almost caught up with South Korea, its competitor. Some say that China is already more advanced than Korea, however, as I mentioned in the 37th column, I think that Korea is still better than China in terms of overall game development including resource optimization, screen direction, quality, etc. But it is obvious that the gap between the two countries has decreased.

 

Besides, contrary to my expectations, console games received greater focus. Instead of following the latest game-show trends where mobile games have taken the lead in the gaming industry worldwide, China has significantly expanded the release of console games. I guess that it's from the uniqueness of Chinese console-game market which was just opened last year. I expect that it would be sharply decreased if it doesn't gain popularity with internal players.

 

Lastly, there were many Virtual Reality (VR) games in the expo. VR-game development of South Korea is in its early stage. Nobody doubts that it would be the next hot thing in the gaming world, however, there hasn't been distinguished accomplishments yet. Participating ChinaJoy, I knew that Chinese gaming companies are getting more active in making VR games, which would lead it No.1 in the global VR gaming industry. It would seem to comparable to South Korea who stood at the top as the leader in a relatively short period time in the PC-gaming industry at the end of the 20th century based on its strong online infrastructure.

 

Of course, the three above doesn't explain all about ChinaJoy. But Korea would be beaten by China who is rapidly growing in the gaming industry unless we must strive to overcome this unstable situation. No time for domestic game makers to mull whether we should enter the Chinese market. We need to seriously ponder how we can handle Chinese gaming firms which will likely be available soon in Korea. After I visited Shanghai, I'm so sad since my sunburnt skin made me look from Chinese to Filipino.

 

 

※ 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 _ Key to the success of Netmarble

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Key to the success of Netmarble

Netmarble Together with Press (NTP) took place not long ago. The gist of what Bang Jun-Hyuk, the chairman of Netmarble, said in the event is as follows.

Firstly, a solid organizational power of Netmarble is the critical success factor and human resource is the most important part of the gaming company. Secondly, Bang hopes that the company's strategy on his speech would be a great help to other domestic mobile-game developers and publishers in the era of unlimited global competition with foreign mobile games. Thirdly, he is ready to accelerate the company's entry into the global mobile-game market and using the brand awareness, the popularity of globally major intellectual properties (IPs), and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) would be covered under the core strategy. Fourthly, he will implement a key strategy based upon accurate data with numerical statistics which he only believes in. Fifthly, he would grow its subsidiaries stably in turn and their efforts would pay off. Lastly, he has the big four management philosophy: strategic management; innovation and thinking ahead, people-centered management; fostering talented individuals, data-driven management; recognizing the importance of numerical data, participative management; empowering employees of the company.

Bang is the man whom I've never met and I've never damaged by the large publisher. But, as one person working in the video-game-related field, I'd like to dispute his claims made in the speech.

To begin with, let's talk about organizing ability and people-centered management. Probably lots of employees of Netmarble in the Guro Industrial Complex do not leave the office working very hard while I'm writing this column in the middle of the night. I don't want to disparage them. But I've heard rumors several times that high levels of staff turnover of the company is due to a heavy workload. It's not based on the accurate data, however, I cannot find any currently working-level staff as far as I know among employees who had worked in the firm two years ago. The basis of organizational power is teamwork. I doubt whether frequent changes of a member is helpful for fine teamwork.

Besides, he contradicted himself saying that he only believes in numerical data, meanwhile, he admitted that it's hard to predict the exact numerical results of a video game included in show business. And, at least, man - one of the most important parts of his management philosophy - is a creature of impulse who cannot be measured only by a numerical value. I am not fully convinced by the opinion of the leading businessman who develops and distributes content. If a movie can be precisely expected to be a good show before it comes out only by numerical data, the success of the film necessarily depends on a director and staffs who have enough experience for making box-office hits. But we have seen many instances of that combination of factors was disastrous.

Finally, he said that Netmarble holding critical data would be helpful for the local gaming industry. But it seemed like 'follow me' top-down leadership style. I doubt whether the exclusive publishing service of the big publisher would help boost the domestic video-game industry.

I was uncomfortable because he showed confidence-looking defensive attitude in his speech mentioning past successes and optimistic future of the company although Netmarble also has many problems. No one is denying that Netmarble is No.1 mobile-game company in South Korea. Still, if you look closely enough, it relies mostly on sales of the small number of games developed by its subsidiaries for revenue. Many Netmarble-published games have disappeared from the market due to the low probability of success based on its data-driven management and not a few of the subsidiaries have lost quite a bit of money. It's not possible to succeed in every game it releases. It's hard to show dedicated teamwork due to a high turnover of the staff. Some imported games which paid a heavy price to have showed poor outcomes. Of course, Netmarble has brought great achievements. But, it is quite unpleasant to ask small developers to follow its style as it guides because it's obvious that they cannot independently survive in the maturing industry. A video game is a part of the show business and creativity is very important in making it. Numerical data-driven management far from the creativity means that it prefers to uses a method which has already been tried and tested. To create something new always starts at challenging authority. I'm worried about Korea's largest video-game maker who seems a frightening champion because it is afraid of accepting the challenge.

※ 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 _ Disney and Touch Touch

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Disney and Touch Touch

Inside Out, an American 3D computer-animated comedy film, has recently gotten good reviews from its Korean audiences. It's the movie that I want to watch on the weekend the most. The new Disney film topped other blockbusters with the largest number of viewers per day. It's been in one and a half year since an animated film Frozen was one top of the box office creating a huge sensation in the domestic market. Meanwhile, I deeply impressed by Disney's creative strategy. There are a lot of Disney animations which are well-known here in Korea. Almost anyone in their 20s and 30s probably knows at least a couple of the greatest hits such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Aladdin, and The Lion King, etc.

Do you remember a mobile-game Touch Touch? It's a spot-the-difference casual game which was released a long time ago. The game rules are very simple. A user has to find the differences between the two versions of the same pictures side by side. The rules are easy to understand and the interface is quite user-friendly and intuitive as well. Also, it has a stable system with putting fun factors into the game. Touch Touch helps a player only to stay focus on finding differences and make the user feel a sense of achievement when he/she completes a mission list, which easily shows the user fun. I guess that a considerable number of readers have probably played the game or other similar game at one time or another.

I used to see many female users playing various mobile games when I get to and from work. Most of them usually enjoy playing casual games. They played Anipang in the fall of 2013 and enjoyed Wind Runner for Kakao, I Love Coffee, Everybody's Marble, Candy Crush Saga, etc. since then. Candy Crush Soda Saga seemed the most popular for a while. There hasn't been a new one which was appealing to female casual-game users, however, Disney Catch Catch is slowly gaining popularity among women.

Disney Catch Catch helps users to play the game easily using quite familiar characters and animate scenes from Disney animations and familiar gameplay. It's pleasant to watch a lot of animated scenes from The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen, etc. and users can also expect to see more interesting Disney contents which would be added by its performance.

I think that it is necessary to adjust the difficulty of the game. But, while many developers seek the new, finding a point of difference from what we are familiar with made the spot-the-difference casual game pretty appealing. I expect to see many video games with a switch of ideas.

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

   (http://www.khgames.co.kr)

    Translation by Kim Ki-hui