Korean game firms fix eyes on Taiwan

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sat, December 9, 2023 | 16:54

Companies

Korean game firms fix eyes on Taiwan

Posted : 2018-09-04 17:31

Updated : 2018-09-04 18:40

Seen is a captured image of Pearl Abyss' mobile game "Black Desert Mobile." / Courtesy of Pearl Abyss

By Baek Byung-yeul

Game companies are expanding their presence in Taiwan and other Asian countries to make up for their struggling business in China, according to company officials Monday.

Korean game companies have been unable to export their games to China since March last year when the Chinese government suspended the issuance of permits necessary for Korean games to be sold there.

It is seen as part of China's protest of Korea's deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

According to industry tracker Gevolution, Sunday, Korean mobile games ranked first to third in terms of sales in Apple's App Store in Taiwan, Sunday. They are "Black Desert Mobile" of Pearl Abyss, "Lineage M" of NCSOFT and "MapleStory M" of Nexon.

Taiwan has the world's 15th-largest game market, just behind Brazil and Australia, according to 2017 data from the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).

The market has an estimated worth of about $1 billion last year and is projected to grow to $11.18 billion by 2020.

Its mobile game market is also on the rise as it took the biggest slice of the pie of 66 percent in the entire game market there last year.

The mobile market in Taiwan amounted to $682 million last year and is expected to grow to $793 million by 2020, offering potential new profit sources for Korean firms.

Among the top three Korean games on the chart, "Black Desert Mobile" is noticeable as it has been only a few days since the game's Taiwan release.

"Black Dessert Mobile" is a mobile version of its popular multiplayer online role-playing game (RPG) "Black Desert." Since the game was rolled out in December 2014, the PC version has accrued almost 10 million registered players.

Pearl Abyss said the mobile game had drawn high expectations from Taiwanese gamers as about 2.79 million pre-registered for the game before it was released. The game ranked first with the Apple App Store as well as Google Play store's top grossing on its game chart.

Analysts estimate "Black Desert Mobile" has recorded daily sales of at least 1 billion won ($898,000) there.

"Given Taiwan has a smaller market size than Korea and it had recorded daily sales of 4 billion won when it was released here, Black Desert Mobile is expected to have daily sales of 1 billion won," Shinhan Investment analyst Lee Moon-jong said.

The analyst added "Black Desert Mobile" could hit the jackpot early as Taiwanese gamers are already familiar with the mobile game's original PC version, which was introduced there this January.

"Lineage M," the mobile version of NCSOFT's popular online RPG, was rolled out in Taiwan last December and has topped Google Play's top grossing apps chart. It also has been in the upper ranks of Apple's App Store. Analysts said "Lineage M" is presumed to record daily sales of 800 million won in Taiwan.

baekby@ktimes.com