Korean game developer Devsisters is all set to launch its mobile role-playing game (RPG) called ‘Cookierun: Kingdom’ in China.
It took approximately nine months since the game received a license from the Chinese authorities in March and started preparing for localization.
The local publishing of ‘Cookierun: Kingdom’ has been taken care of by a joint venture between Chinese game company ChangYou and Tencent Games. The game has already generated a lot of pre-launch buzz, marking the top of the Android and iOS pre-order rankings on Chinese app market platform Tap Tap during the test earlier this month.
Many Korean game companies have started advancing in the Chinese market after the Chinese government resumed issuing game licenses late last year. The licenses have been drastically curtailed since 2017. These companies hope to improve their performance by hitting the jackpot in the Chinese game market, which accounts for more than 30 percent of the global game market.
According to the insiders of the industry, a total of 12 domestic games have received approval for release by Chinese government since the country resumed issuing licenses late last year. Domestic game companies that have obtained licenses are considering the appropriate time of their releases in China.
In its third-quarter earnings conference call last month, Korean game company Netmarble announced that it will launch the Chinese service of its box office hit “Second Country: Cross World” in the first half of next year. The MMORPG game “Second Country: Cross Worlds” has proven to be a box office hit, surpassing $100 million in sales within 11 days of its release in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau in 2021. Korean game company Wemade is also planning to launch its game in China.
South Korean game companies are focusing on the Chinese market because it is such a land of opportunity. China accounted for 31.7 percent of the global mobile game market and 33.4 percent of the PC game market last year, according to data analytics firm Niko Partners. Securities firms estimate that China’s mobile game market is worth 28 trillion won, more than three times larger than South Korea’s.
However, it is concerning that most of the domestic games that have launched in China this year have been “flops”. Half of the 12 games that were licensed late last year and early this year are currently available in the Chinese market, but most of them have fallen off the sales charts.
One of the reasons domestic game companies are struggling in China is due to heavy censorship by the Chinese government. In fact, the game “Black Desert Mobile” by Korean game company Pearl Abyss was released in China without its core business model (BM), and Nexon’s “Blue Archive” only became available in China after the characters’ outfits were heavily modified.
Chinese game companies, on the other hand, have released a number of globally competitive games. According to app market aggregator AppMagic, three of the top five top-grossing games on the Google and Apple app stores in China last month were all domestic titles.
Industry insiders say that to succeed in the Chinese market, domestic game companies need to escape the threat of inertia. “There are already a lot of high-quality Chinese games, so we need to release localized games to capture Chinese users,” said a representative from a major game company.
This article was originally published on Dec. 12. 2023.
