Recently, I was invited to speak at the "Global Game Developers Conference 2024." I prepared diligently for my topic on "Current Investment Trends and Preparation for Attracting Investments" and hope it was of some help to the attentive participants. This event gathered many domestic game developers, and there was a lot of discussion on the recent market trends, future outlooks, industry status, and development know-how. Among these issues, a prevalent concern among developers was the concern servicing games overseas.
The domestic game market has long been polarized, with a few games monopolizing much of the revenue, making it difficult for other games to even recoup their development costs. However, as the hardware specifications have increased and numerous major international games have been released, user expectations have significantly risen. The labor costs of developers have also increased post-COVID, leading to higher production costs. With the polarization of the market and the increasing market share of foreign games, it is becoming difficult to increase the revenue domestically. From a producer’s standpoint, considering the overseas market has become inevitable.
There never was, and there will never be an environment where just launching a game will ensure earnings. Even if many people participate and an enormous effort and funds are poured into creating a game, it can fail if the users do not respond to it. For example, although it was overshadowed by the success of "Black Myth: Wukong," a game developed by Sony over eight years called "Concord" was shut down less than a month after its launch. Despite an estimated production cost of about 130 billion won, it only sold around 25,000 copies. The entertainment industry is always unpredictable.
Every product has a market where it is traded. Naturally, sales and profits occur based on the volume of transactions and the price. Increasing the transaction volume through marketing and promotions to attract more users is a familiar strategy. Another intuitive and realistic method to increase the transaction volume is to expand the market.
However, when discussing overseas services with developers, I've often felt that their preparation is lacking. Many do not know readily available information about foreign markets, and their understanding of the local markets they wish to enter is often inadequate. Although attending conferences is a way to compensate for these shortcomings, participating without grasping even the basic information is a wasted opportunity.
Considering the user preferences, improving the conversion rates for payments, and contemplating overseas expansions are natural means for increasing game revenue. However, unlike industrial products, games are cultural content products bought more on an emotional than a rational basis. A lack of local understanding and cultural consideration in overseas expansions, much like an unprepared conference participation, can lead to minimal gains. Despite being digital content distributed online, overseas expansion also involves costs. Thus, unprepared entries into foreign markets can end up being costly lessons.
In the past, many foreign games entered the Korean market with poor Korean localization, and some games are still mocked for their translations, known as "Waldoche" memes. Similarly, no one can guarantee that our games won’t become the subject of memes overseas. If you are serving a game in a particular region, learning about that region is the least amount of respect you can show to its users.
At this conference, I heard a publisher lamenting that "there are too many games with such poor translations that I'd rather they use Google Translate," and a developer wondering if expanding a service just means adding more countries in the market setup. With these reflections in mind, I have written these few words.
<Photo> The “GGDC 2024” held on October 11 and 12. |
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