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| Visitors take a look at the Netmarble Store in Hongdae, western Seoul. / Courtesy of Netmarble |
By Baek Byung-yeul
More characters featured in popular video games are moving beyond the small screen as gaming firms are opening retail stores using the popularity of their game characters.
Korean gaming giant Netmarble recently opened its retail store Netmarble Store at the bustling university district of Hongdae, western Seoul. Using the firm's game characters, the retail store features more than 300 kinds of items including action figures, pillows, socks, ballpoint pens, smartphone accessories, mugs and a small-sized humidifier.
A Netmarble official said its character store drew about 130,000 visitors in two months.
"The Netmarble Store garnered 10,000 visitors during the first weekend since its opening on April 6. It surpassed the 60,000-visitor mark in a month and garnered more than 130,000 visitors in two months," the official said. "We will continue to endeavor to deliver greater satisfaction to customers by adding more kinds of goods."
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| Poster for Netmarble's retail store / Courtesy of Netmarble |
Netmarble wet its feet in the character business in 2013 as the company has rolled out products using its intellectual properties including game characters and background stories. However, this is the first time that Netmarble established an offline store.
Netmarble said it plans to add more retail stores this year. With the summer approaching, Netmarble will roll out a handy USB-powered fan, a vinyl pouch and a beach towel that feature its game characters.
NCSOFT has sold action figures of its famous Lineage online role-playing game franchise. Another gaming giant Nexon is also operating a character store called "Necoje" in Hongdae. At the Necoje store, Nexon has allowed artists to create their own products using Nexon's game characters.
U.S.-based Riot Games, famous for its online strategy game "League of Legends" also has been running temporary pop-up stores in collaboration with department stores. When it opened the store at Hyundai Department Store's Sinchon branch in Seoul for about 50 days last year, it drew a total of 45,000 visitors.
According to research from the Korea Creative Content Agency, the market size of the country's character business is estimated at 11.57 trillion won ($10.42 billion) in 2016. Industry watchers say gaming firms' recent moves to add more offline stores will increase their revenue and build stronger brand presence.
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