泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] A publisher can't have it both ways

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

A publisher can't have it both ways

 

Recently, the news that Ban Ki-moon announced that he would not run for the presidential election is the talk of the town. Sometimes we define ourselves by the expectations of the others. So many people around us make the wrong decision since they think too highly of themselves or don't have an accurate picture of their abilities, for example, an unsuccessful athlete-turned-entertainer or a failed entertainer-turned-entrepreneur. So in that sense, I support the former UN Secretary-General's position. The diplomatic expert probably doesn't have all the necessary qualities for a politician and it doesn't seem to fit for him to take part in local politics due to his lack of understanding of the domestic situation. I think it's comparable with legendary basketball icon Michael Jordan who tried to be a professional baseball player.

 

I have been hearing about video game publishers focusing on creating a video game for some time now. Publishers who are responsible for marketing, sales, and PR, etc. differ significantly from developers, although they are in the same industry. Furthermore, publishing a video game created by a developer that signed a contract with and publishing a video game made by colleagues working in the same office from morning till evening is different. A few film distributor did great at the box office with self-production movies. Marketing and sales must be based on objective data, however, it's not easy to remain objective about the self-contained project. Besides, game developers who have a rich game development environment tend to add game elements with zeal and avidity, which often increases the break-even point due to the increased amount of production costs and expenses and delays during the development process.

 

In spite of little chance of success, a video game company can be good at both publishing and developing a video game. A publisher which had great results from a self-contained project has no occasion to focus on a developer's less-profitable game and, similarly, the developer doesn't want to work with the publisher lacked sincerity. Every game maker wants their project to be the publisher's priority.

 

The management would change the future direction after careful consideration and I don't want to raise the questions about the decision. However, the publisher can't have it both ways realistically. It's wishful thinking. If the publisher decides to focus on the self-contained project, it needs to abandon the publishing game and put its nose down in only one task at a time to be successful. In contrast, if it wants to publish a developer's game, it is better to give up the self-contained game. Now is the time for domestic video game publishers to clarify their attitude. I expect them to choose between the two and focus on it.

 

 

※ 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 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] An employee is not the owner of the company

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

An employee is not the owner of the company

 

A recent column by Monn Yoo-Seok, an associate judge at the Seoul Eastern District Court, has become a hot issue on the Internet. The judge's story titled 'Letter to all general managers in the country' is about workers' job stress from their boss. In short, "Don't make it a working dinner.", "Don't speak gibberish.", "Don't blame for the mistake on an alcoholic drink after hitting on a female employee while drinking." etc. One of the most impressive lines was "Don't say that 'Back in my day... (or) When I was your age...' kind of thing" among satisfying pieces of advice which made them feel so good. He means that the know-it-all should beef up his resume to join a corporation in this day and age.

 

I'd like to talk about how to run an organization of the video game developer which is one of South Korea's companies. Lately, I had dinner with the CEO, whom I'm close with, of the video game production. The employer told me that, to present a clear vision, he has required employees to be actively involved in their work and develop them further by focusing on their mission and he used to emphasize that corporate development will give them good opportunities. I earnestly asked him not to say it like that expressing my disappointment at his attitude. Most business leaders want their employees to put their hearts and soul into the work like they are the owner of the company. As I told him, representatives should not force employees to have unconditional ownership mentality because they are not the owner of the company but only workers. While the boss delivers a long-winded speech, the employee has nothing to do but think that he makes him annoying because he needs to work overtime to catch up on lost time. It can be helpful for a few workers who have more engaged with their work. Staff with employee ownership probably would voluntarily work very hard to become successful or start their own business later anyway. Why do normal employees, who perform well in their work to be paid regularly, worry about the company like the boss and spontaneously work late? It's brainwashing under the pretext of sharing his vision of developing the company, which reminds me the principal's speech lacked sincerity in my school days.

 

Sometimes, executives don't think that their junior employees also evaluate them. Most workers don't respect the boss who is too preachy and the leader with such management style isn't very highly regarded due to ineffectiveness. Nobody can force employees to have an ownership mentality because it isn't mandatory. You are not going to get high grades unless you stop being giving them the lectures. I guess somebody thinks that I can say like this because I haven't run a business. However, It's a lesson from a bitter experience since my video-game company went bankrupt. If someone is forcing his staff to have an ownership mentality, please remember that it might bring your company to an end.

 

 

※ 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 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] An expert on video-game investment is needed

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

An expert on video-game investment is needed

 

Today, I‘d like to talk about the field, the video game-related industry in part, where I'm working now. I've mentioned investing in the video-game market many times, however, I want to deal with the sector for video-game investment itself.

Recently, one of the CEOs of video game developers asked me how many video game -investment experts are working in the local venture capital industry. He seemed a little shocked by the unexpectedly low figure when I answered that it's probably about 10-20 experts.

 

The total number of workers in the domestic venture capital industry is approximately 1,500 people. And the number of working-level venture capitalists, except executives, is expected to reach around 700-800. This figure seems very small, given that the number of video-game investment is about 7-10% of the overall investment. Furthermore, the number would be much lower, if it's limited to the private equity investors with video game careers. Why is the number of video game experts, especially VCs from the video game industry, in the national venture capital industry so low?

 

Korea's video game industry was born only two decades ago. Thus, it hasn't deepened its knowledge with academic theories with insufficient educational institutions and relatively a small number of systematically educated employees are working in the industry. The world of investment is the last field to be developed in the industry. An investor has to understand the industry based on its theories and practices and figure out industry-wide capital flows. So only a specialist can invest in it. The reason there is more than twice the video-game industry's investment money in the local audiovisual industry with less than half the size of it and more than three times the former audiovisual experts in the venture capital industry is caused by the relatively long history of Korea's audiovisual industry. It has helped the stable ecosystem of the professional audiovisual industry including from video production and distribution to investment.

 

The domestic video game industry is a burgeoning market. New firms are listed on KOSDAQ every year and they have continued to grow. Keeping sustained and stable investments in new games and making new investments with a high Return on investment (ROI) is very important to continue growing. As I mentioned earlier, it takes a long time to nurture an investment expert who has enough working experience and knowledge not only on the development and distribution of the video game but also investment work as a VC. Talented professionals will help to form the basis of the business ecosystem between the video game industry and the investment industry.

 

 

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

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui