Blade becomes first mobile title to win Korea's top game award

By Yoon Sung-won

Action Square CEO Kim Jae-young speaks after winning the grand prize for the mobile action game “Blade for Kakao” during the 2014 Korea Game Awards ceremony at the Busan Cinema Center, Wednesday. / Yonhap

BUSAN ― Mobile game “Blade for Kakao” has won the nation’s most prestigious game prize ― the first time a mobile game has earned top spot in the award’s 19-year history.

During the 2014 Korea Game Awards ceremony held at the Busan Cinema Center Wednesday, eight out of 13 games nominated for the main prizes were for mobile platforms. This could be seen as further proof of mobile games’ fast-growing presence in the Korean game market.

“When we started producing Blade two years ago, the team and I just wanted to produce an entertaining action game. We will continue to do our utmost to make the best mobile games in the world,” Action Square CEO Kim Jae-young said after being named the winner of the grand prize.

Kim said the company will donate all the prize money to charity to “return the profit to the society that gave us the chance for success.”

Blade for Kakao is a 3D mobile action role-playing game developed by Action Square and published by Four Thirty Three; it was launched back in April this year. The publisher revealed that it has recorded 5 million downloads and 90 billion won ($81 million) in sales over six months in the domestic market. This sales figure is the largest-ever amount for a single mobile game over a half-year period. On the back of the popularity of the title, Four Thirty Three secured an estimated 120 billion won investment for the Asian market from Chinese game giant Tencent and Japan’s LINE.

WeMade Entertainment’s PC-based online game “Icarus” won the second prize.

“Korea’s game industry has seen drastic changes in its business environment, while it is rapidly growing as the world’s largest market the mobile sector is expanding its presence. In the meantime, I understand that many developers might have suffered difficulties,” said Kim Jong-seok, minister of culture, sports and tourism.

“The government has set long-term plans to support Korean games going overseas and to renovate the game rating system. I believe game industry workers need to be better respected to prevent the nation from losing more talented developers to overseas countries.”