Game developers suffer setback amid telecommuting

A poster for NCSOFT's “Blade & Soul 2,” set to be launched in the coming months / Courtesy of NCSOFT

NCSOFT, Nexon, Netmarble projected to launch fewer games this year

By Kim Bo-eun

Attention is growing over whether major Korean game developers will see further inconveniences from telecommuting amid a fourth wave of mass COVID-19 infections here.

Game companies have enforced the strictest level of their work-from-home policies for the next two weeks, having all employees work from home with the exception of a minimum number of staffers needed for essential office tasks. This is in accordance with the government's introduction of the strictest-yet social distancing rules for the metropolitan area for this period as a means to curb the spread of infections.

Game developers had already seen game launches being delayed due to telecommuting policies that have been enforced since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

NCSOFT said in a conference call on its first-quarter earnings in May that new game releases are being affected by telecommuting. "Blade & Soul 2" had been scheduled for release before the end of the second quarter, but the game still has yet to be launched.

"Developers need to operate four to five high-end PCs with two to three monitors when developing games and it is difficult to create such a setting when working from home. This is also due to security issues as the games are intellectual property," a game industry official said.

"In addition, the process of developing a game entails various stages where multiple employees need to work together and telecommuting poses constraints."

According to a survey released in April by the Game Developers Conference conducted on more than 3,000 game industry professionals worldwide, 44 percent of developers had a game release delayed due to COVID-19. This is up from 33 percent of those surveyed in June last year. In the survey released in April, 32 percent of respondents said their creativity or productivity fell decreased due to remote work.

Shinhan Investment & Securities Analyst Lee Moon-jong said NCSOFT's absence of momentum and the games of competitors making a hit could be reflected in the company's stock price.

"Key games such as Lineage M and 2M are seeing their sales falter," Lee said in a report, Monday. "NCSOFT needs to make public and release a new game which will be able to make a global hit."

An NCSOFT official, however, said the release of “Blade & Soul 2” is not being delayed further due to current teleworking circumstances. "The game has been developed and we are at the stage of determining its launch date," he said.

Regarding the telecommuting situation, an industry official said, “For game companies, the weeks prior to the release of a new game is the busiest time, and this means firms that are about to launch new titles will most be affected by the current circumstances.”

The three major game developers are forecast to launch fewer new games this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Netmarble launched its first new game this year last month, while on extended telecommuting circumstances. Nexon did not release any new games in the first half of this year.

“The reason game companies are implementing work-from-home policies to such a strict degree is because developers are essentially the firms' assets,” another industry official said. "Unlike companies in manufacturing, developers are the ones creating our products which is why it is critical to keep the workforce intact.”