By Yoon Sung-won
Korea's mobile game market is heating up with four major role-playing game (RPG) titles vying for the attention of gamers here, according to industry sources, Wednesday.
With NCSOFT's "Lineage M" and Netmarble Games' "Lineage 2: Revolution" remaining at the highest positions in the top-grossing charts of Google Play Store and Apple's App Store, Nexon's "Dark Avenger 3" and "Onmyoji," domestically published by Kakao, are newly drawing attention.
On Wednesday, Nexon said "Dark Avenger 3" has recorded over 1 million downloads in five days. On its launch day, July 27, the mobile game ranked second on Apple App Store's top-grossing chart and took the No. 3 spot on Google's top-grossing rankings.
"Our new mobile action RPG Dark Avenger 3 has become one of top 3 titles on both app markets. It is a meaningful achievement in a market which is currently led by MMORPGs," Nexon's mobile business division head Noh Jung-hwan said. "We will continue to update its content as soon as possible."
Nexon's mobile game development subsidiary Boolean Games produced "Dark Avenger 3." Its two prequels together have recorded more than 35 million cumulative downloads globally.
On Tuesday, Kakao launched its mobile RPG "Onmyoji for Kakao" through both Google and Apple app stores.
"Onmyoji targets those who haven't played mobile RPGs much but are trying to do so," Kakao's game business unit head Namkoong Whon said.
Kakao's new mobile game was originally developed by China's NetEase Games. After it was launched previously in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong last September, it has drawn over 200 million downloads globally.
This game depicts the story of a shaman in Japan's Heian period and his journey. The player controls the shaman to collect different types of spirits and defeat enemies.
Kakao said it has worked with more than 40 Korean voice actors and actresses to provide voice dubbing localized in Korean, which is an exclusive service provided in the country.
Unlike the three other blockbuster titles by Nexon, NCSFOT and Netmarble, "Onmyoji" is more focused on cartoon-like illustrations, detailed storylines and easy-to-play game styles, according to Kakao. For this reason, expectations have been that this game may draw extra attention from female users.
Kakao said Wednesday the game has found about 50 percent of its users turned out to be female gamers, which hints at the potential for the game's staying power.
"Onmyoji has vast amounts of content that can be played for a long time," a Kakao official said. "This is a very encouraging record that shows the game's potential."
Netmarble, which has already made a record first-month sales of 206 billion won with "Lineage 2: Revolution," unveiled a teaser for its new blockbuster mobile RPG, dubbed "Tera M," on Wednesday.
Based on the namesake mega-hit computer online game, "Tera M" is expected to be another major income source for Netmarble once it is released within this year as scheduled.
Korea's mobile game market is heating up with four major role-playing game (RPG) titles vying for the attention of gamers here, according to industry sources, Wednesday.
With NCSOFT's "Lineage M" and Netmarble Games' "Lineage 2: Revolution" remaining at the highest positions in the top-grossing charts of Google Play Store and Apple's App Store, Nexon's "Dark Avenger 3" and "Onmyoji," domestically published by Kakao, are newly drawing attention.
On Wednesday, Nexon said "Dark Avenger 3" has recorded over 1 million downloads in five days. On its launch day, July 27, the mobile game ranked second on Apple App Store's top-grossing chart and took the No. 3 spot on Google's top-grossing rankings.
"Our new mobile action RPG Dark Avenger 3 has become one of top 3 titles on both app markets. It is a meaningful achievement in a market which is currently led by MMORPGs," Nexon's mobile business division head Noh Jung-hwan said. "We will continue to update its content as soon as possible."
Nexon's mobile game development subsidiary Boolean Games produced "Dark Avenger 3." Its two prequels together have recorded more than 35 million cumulative downloads globally.
On Tuesday, Kakao launched its mobile RPG "Onmyoji for Kakao" through both Google and Apple app stores.
"Onmyoji targets those who haven't played mobile RPGs much but are trying to do so," Kakao's game business unit head Namkoong Whon said.
Kakao's new mobile game was originally developed by China's NetEase Games. After it was launched previously in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong last September, it has drawn over 200 million downloads globally.
This game depicts the story of a shaman in Japan's Heian period and his journey. The player controls the shaman to collect different types of spirits and defeat enemies.
Kakao said it has worked with more than 40 Korean voice actors and actresses to provide voice dubbing localized in Korean, which is an exclusive service provided in the country.
Unlike the three other blockbuster titles by Nexon, NCSFOT and Netmarble, "Onmyoji" is more focused on cartoon-like illustrations, detailed storylines and easy-to-play game styles, according to Kakao. For this reason, expectations have been that this game may draw extra attention from female users.
Kakao said Wednesday the game has found about 50 percent of its users turned out to be female gamers, which hints at the potential for the game's staying power.
"Onmyoji has vast amounts of content that can be played for a long time," a Kakao official said. "This is a very encouraging record that shows the game's potential."
Netmarble, which has already made a record first-month sales of 206 billion won with "Lineage 2: Revolution," unveiled a teaser for its new blockbuster mobile RPG, dubbed "Tera M," on Wednesday.
Based on the namesake mega-hit computer online game, "Tera M" is expected to be another major income source for Netmarble once it is released within this year as scheduled.
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