Mobile takes over games forum

BUSAN ― This year’s G-Star, South Korea’s biggest game convention, will be all about mobile games specifically targeting players overseas.

With the domestic market facing saturation as smartphones and network capacity have reached their current limits, a slew of both traditional PC online and start-up game developers and publishers are expected to promote their content, especially for users in emerging markets, industry sources said.

New concept virtual reality games and games from China will be among the main attractions at the three-day exhibition, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. The G-Star will be held from Thursday to Sunday this week.

“VR offers a glimpse into the future of games, and games from Chinese companies, which have recently recruited a lot of talented staff from Korea and invested in several Korean companies, are expected to grab attention, as China’s industry is catching up really fast with Korea in terms of both quality and technology,” said an industry source.

Under the G-Star slogan ― “Game is Not Over” ― defying Korea’s increased regulations against children playing games and the market’s overcapacity, more than 600 companies from 35 countries will be eyeing overseas deals to launch games with cinematic quality.

Korean online giants such as Nexon and NCsoft, which have been relatively slow to adapt to the mobile environment, will release new mobile games that have been developed using their strength in creating role-playing, real-time strategy and first-person shooter games during the PC era.

NCsoft said it would introduce games with stories adapted from their PC online fantasy hits such as “Blade & Soul” and “Aion.”

The company said it was not completely abandoning PC games, adding that the best way to deliver new user experiences would be developing proprietary games that can have their PC and mobile platforms linked.

“We have not lost sight, but have been continuously challenging ourselves to take the path toward uncharted territory,” said NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin.

NCsoft’s new PC games to be introduced at the show include “Project HON,” a shooting action genre starring huge solider robots.

Of the 15 games Nexon will showcase, more than half will be mobile games, with industry sources citing “Durango” and “Preta” as the most highly-anticipated games this year.

Among small and medium game developers, Gamevil’s mobile role-playing game ― “Dark Avenger 2” ― is expected to create a buzz as it already has garnered rave reviews by fans and critics for its high graphic resolution and quality story that exceeded the first part of the series. 

The sequel, which is about warriors fighting a dragon to save their kingdom, was officially launched for global markets via Google Play and App Store last Tuesday.

“Gamevil and its subsidiary Com2us are among the very few domestic mobile games with overseas track records likely to succeed abroad,” said Kim Hak-joon, an analyst at Heungkuk Securities.

“The domestic game market is expected to face a slight slowdown although the number of games will increase as mobile devices on fifth-generation communication networks will be introduced in the near future.”

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)