By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Hanbit Soft is transforming itself into a global game publisher as Korea's online game market gets saturated by scores of new games.
The company said on Wednesday that its previous game ``Granado Espada'' is now earning around 3 billion won every month from subscription fees and game item sales from 20 countries, mainly thanks to its surprising popularity in China. More than 4 million Chinese have signed up for the multiplayer role-playing game, in which thousands of gamers form a virtual society and play against, or along with each other.
The firm is even more upbeat about the global launching of its new game ``Hellgate: London'' next month, which is being developed by famous U.S. game producer Bill Roper.
``We are currently the only game company in Korea that earns much more overseas than domestically,'' its public relations manager Lee Soo-hyun said, saying the accumulated sales of ``Granado Espada'' could reach 50 billion won next year. ``The income from foreign countries will take a larger portion in our revenue next year.''
South Korea's online multiplayer games such as ``Lineage'' of NCsoft and ``Granado Espada'' of Hanbit had the reputation as the world's most advanced and most addictive ones. But from last year, big game firms have struggled to produce hit games in Korea, while gamers are becoming fond of online or offline games made in the United States, Japan and even China.
Hanbit is no stranger to failure. The company had raked up cash as the local distributor of American games such as ``StarCraft'' and ``Diablo,'' both of which were incredibly huge hits here. Hoping to make its own hit game rather than to import another foreign-made game, the firm reportedly spent more than 10 billion won on developing ``Granado Espada'' until last year. But the ambitious project failed to attract Korean gamers, and Hanbit reported 2.7 billion won in operating losses last year, compared to 2.9 billion won in profits in 2006.
Meanwhile, Hanbit had seen unexpected profits by selling a tiny golf game ``Pangya,'' which became its first product to earn more than 30 billion won overseas. Currently, ``Pangya'' and ``Granado Espada'' are the two main profit sources, Lee said.
``Online games are not a one-time sales items like a movie,'' Kim Young-man, the chief executive, said in the press release. ``To judge whether a game is a success or not, one should wait for about two years.''
Analysts see that the game firms should turn their eyes to foreign markets in order to survive. According to Mirae Asset Securities, the global online game market is expected to grow to over $10 billion by 2009, with an annual growth of around 25 percent.
The stock market, however, has been less enthusiastic than Kim. Hanbit's stock price peaked at 18,250 in July but has plummeted to around 7,000 won in just five months when the launch of ``Hellgate:London'' was delayed.
indizoi@koreatimes.co.kr