Netmarble to launch slew of new games worldwide

Seen is a poster for “A3: STILL ALIVE,” a mobile MMORPG that Netmarble plans to release within the first half of the year. / Courtesy of Netmarble

By Jun Ji-hye

Netmarble, which successfully released “Blade & Soul Revolution” on Dec. 6, plans to release more new large-scale games in 2019 to capture the hearts of gamers worldwide.

The firm said Tuesday that new games it plans to release within the first half of the year include “A3: STILL ALIVE,” “BTS World,” “Seven Knights 2” and “The King of Fighters All Star.”

The nation's leading game developer and publisher has been more active in targeting the global market than anybody else.

A poster for “The King of Fighters All Star” / Courtesy of Netmarble

It took fifth place in the global mobile game market in terms of sales last year after China's Tencent and NetEase, U.S.-based Activision Blizzard and Japan's Bandai Namco, according to a survey of mobile app market research firm App Annie. Netmarble was the only Korean company that was in the world's top 10 game firms in that survey.

Netmarble said its upcoming new games including “Seven Knights 2” were well-received by visitors in November at the G-Star 2018 game exhibition that took place in Busan, raising hope for the company's success.

“Netmarble has consistently challenged the world's big markets, accumulating its knowhow in market expansion,” Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sig said. “Beginning with Blade & Soul Revolution, we will continue to release various genres of games, seeking good results.”

Since its release, “Blade & Soul Revolution,” a mobile massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), became the No. 1 game app in terms of sales on the Apple App Store and the No. 2 app on Google Play, according to the firm.

Expectation has been also growing toward “BTS World,” which uses the images of the members of K-pop sensation BTS. The game, which uses more than 100 video clips and 10,000 photos of the boy band, allows users to nurture and manage a BTS member in the game.

Other games the firm is preparing to release include “The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross of Light and Darkness” and “Yokai Watch: Medal Wars.” The former utilizes the intellectual property of “The Seven Deadly Sins,” a Japanese fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Nakaba Suzuki, while the latter reinterprets the popular animation “Yokai Watch.”

The firm has also been giving efforts to develop games using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by launching the Netmarble AI Revolution Center in March 2018.