Even in South Korea, MMOs no longer have the status they once did. The gaming industry is in crisis.
The Financial Times South Korea has published a highly interesting article that deals with the South Korean gaming market: Especially with the two dominant MMO companies NCSoft (Blade and Soul, Guild Wars 2, Lineage) and Nexon (Maple Story), it critiques them, citing market experts and game developers.
The Korean MMO giants were still in a strong position in 2009, having established the “freemium” model, dominated the Korean market, and also controlled the market in China. These golden times are now definitely over, it is believed.
South Korea now stands on League of Legends and Overwatch
South Koreans have relied too much on “graphically demanding and complex MMORPGs.” Games that are not accessible and fallen out of favor with players.
Today, players prefer faster games like Overwatch and they enjoy playing on their smartphones. Both are trends that South Koreans cannot follow. Western games like Overwatch or League of Legends now dominate the market. Chinese and Western developers have recognized the signs of the times, developed their own successful freemium models, and significantly better mobile games.
Instead of Korean games making a ton of money in China, the tables are slowly turning and Chinese mobile games are generating revenue in South Korea.
Yum, yum. Korean market shares.
The MMORPG know-how becomes a disadvantage
They cite a South Korean mobile developer who laments: The own focus on MMORPGs now becomes a disadvantage, preventing titles from going global. Five years ago, says an analyst from Credit Suisse, this would have been completely unthinkable.
NCSoft has not released a new game since Blade and Soul in 2012; Nexon’s fresh games like MapleStory 2 or Sudden Attack 2, it is further stated, were not hits.
This also affects the market numbers in South Korea. The growth of titles abroad has fallen to 7%, far below the double-digit growth rates that were still present until 2012. Developers are withdrawing from MMOs and increasingly focusing on mobile. However, at the moment, some experts see darkly whether South Koreans can compensate for the advantages of the Chinese and Western developers.
The genre needs a hit – could Lineage Eternal be it?
In recent years, many companies have had to cut jobs and profits have also declined. Analysts and experts who are cited recommend that the gaming industry try different games, use augmented and virtual reality, and develop games for more platforms. The keyword is “diversity.”
The trend described in the article in South Korea has been observed for a while. Some second-tier MMORPGs, which were supposed to come to Europe, were shut down in South Korea during or shortly after that, like Echo of Soul or Devilian, as publishers withdrew from the MMORPG market and focused on the mobile market. The companies are aware of this trend.
NCSoft plans with “Lineage Eternal” to create a “contemporary” MMORPG with significant mobile influences. However, this has already been postponed multiple times. Analysts attribute immense significance to the game for the future of the company NCSoft.
Here in the West, the “AAA-MMORPG” with a large budget has been in crisis for at least two years now. Some believe that WildStar may have been the last of its kind in the summer of 2014. The bright spots in recent years were South Korean AAA-MMORPGs like Black Desert or Blade and Soul that have appeared here in the West.
