泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Let's take a look at Korea's gaming industry (Part 1)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

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

 

Let's take a look at Korea's gaming industry (Part 1)

 

Lawmakers, government officials, and civilian experts gathered in the National Assembly recently to discuss the video gaming industry policy of the next administration. The purpose of the discussion was to aware of the current problem of the gaming industry policy and to set a new direction for Moon administration. In the policy debate, many experts including Kim Byeong-Kwan, developer and entrepreneur-turned-member of the National Assembly, Hwang Seong-Ik, the president of Korea Mobile Game Association, and Lee Jae-hong, the president of Korea Game Society, etc. exchanged opinions about regulatory reforms and necessity of the institution dedicated to the industry. As a person engaged in the game-related field, I'd like to talk about this subject.

 

Many people say that the domestic gaming industry has been in trouble for the past few years. I have also agreed with these people for various reasons. So I want to give the readers exact figures to identify how bad the situation is to analyze problems.

 

First, let's take a look at the size of the market for Korea's gaming industry.

<Market size and outlook of the local gaming industry>

Type	2015		2016(E)		2017(E)
	Sales	Growth rate	Sales	Growth rate	Sales	Growth rate
Market Size	107,223	7.5%	113,194	5.6%	116,496	2.9%

(Korea's Gaming Industry White Paper 2016)

This table shows that the national gaming industry has continued its growth with its declining growth rates.

 

<Number of domestic content companies and employees>

Type	2012		2013		2014		Year-on-year rate
	Company	Worker	Company	Worker	Company	Worker	Company	Worker
Comic	8,856	10,161	8,520	10,077	8,274	10,066	-3.7%	-1.7%
Music	37,116	78,402	36,863	77,456	36,535	77,637	-0.7%	0.3%
Game	16,189	95,051	15,078	91,893	14,440	87,281	-8.6%	-2.1%
Movie	2,630	30,857	1,427	30,238	1,285	29,646	-23.4%	-0.8%

(Korea's Content Industry White Paper 2015)

This table shows that the domestic content industries have suffered in recent years throughout the field and the gaming industry is even worse. The industrial growth rate is going down to a similar level of the inflation rate and the dwindling number of workers is undeniable proof that the local gaming industry has declined.

 

To be continued

 

 

※ 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] 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