Blade & Soul, Ani Pang vie for top award
By Cho Mu-hyun
The most anticipated event in the domestic game industry as this year nears its conclusion is which title will be awarded the grand prize at next week’s 2012 Korea Game Awards.
The ceremony will be hosted by the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Tourism, on Wednesday at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center.
The two likely candidates for the highest industry honor are NCsoft’s Blade & Soul and Sundaytoz’s Ani Pang.
NCsoft’s online role playing title has been atop the rankings in its genre since its much-hyped launch in June thanks to aggressive promotion as well as a lack of worthy challengers.
The game takes place in an Asian martial-arts themed fantasy world and specifically targets Korean and Chinese gamers. It took over 5 years and 50 billion won to develop, continuing the legacy of NCsoft’s long line of mass-budget large-scale releases. It has solidified its position as the runner-up in total game rankings for over three months at Internet cafes despite being a pay per month subscription release, according to game research agency Gametrics.
Blizzard’s Diablo 3 had a head start with a May launch and was considered the biggest obstacle for Blade & Soul but lost popularity quickly due to poor server management and a controversial return policy.
The martial-arts game also gained much pre-release attention as NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin sold his shares in the company to rival outfit Nexon’s boss Kim Jung-ju. The alliance has been praised as cooperation between the two has strong potential, while also raising speculations of why Kim Taek-jin sold his stock so abruptly.
NCsoft’s boss, known for being media shy, may make a rare appearance at the award ceremony, according to industry sources. His willingness to come out shows Blade & Soul’s chances of capturing the grand prize as well as a possibility of him clarifying why he sold his shares.
Nexon Chairman Kim Jung-ju has also been silent on the matter.
Mobile game sensation Ani Pang, has gone viral after a July launch and is the heavyweight contender for Blade & Soul.
Ani Pang is a polar opposite title, played on a mobile platform as well as being a low budget puzzle game.
It has recorded 20 million downloads since its launch thanks to toll-free mobile messenger Kakao Talk, which provides it through the firm’s gaming platform. Kakao Talk has near 60 million subscribers which gave the game free promotion.
Having set download records and being the title that showed the potential of the mobile platform, it is seen as a worthy challenger to Blade & Soul.
However, some claim that the game is lacking innovation as well as having too many similar counterparts to both mobile and desktop platforms its chances of winning have died down.
“It was close between Blade & Soul and Ani Pang but the votes are heavily leaning toward the former due to its scale and originality in concept,” said an industry source. “The likely visit to Busan of reclusive CEO Kim Taek-jin is also increasing anticipation for the event.”
There is also a separate popularity award, which Riot Games’ League of Legends seems poised to take due to its status as the most played game at Internet cafes.
It uses an innovative multiplayer online battle arena where users pick a hero and fight among automated units to destroy the other side’s towers.
It is the only game this year to maintain over 20 percent playing time at Internet cafes for straight months despite being developed by an overseas company, a feat only achieved by Blizzard in the past.
Riot Games’ title was an unexpected hit following its release last year and it has steadily grown in popularity.