An image of Neowiz's upcoming game "Lies of P" / Captured from Neowiz's webpage

By Baek Byung-yeul

Nexon, Krafton, Line Games, Neowiz and other Korean games companies are changing their business strategies by releasing games that require users to purchase fewer in-game items, according to industry officials and analysts.

The industry is focusing on platforms other than mobile devices or developing various genres of games after facing a backlash from gamers who oppose a system that makes them spend an ever-increasing amount of money.

Since the mid-2010s, many game companies here have achieved remarkable growth by releasing mobile games that encourage gamers to buy more and more in-game items. But they have been increasingly criticized for selling lucky-draw in-game items, which rarely produce desirable items, so gamers have to spend unreasonable amounts of money to gain advantage over other players.

"Due to this trend, gamers complain of fatigue and many users raised protest. Since the trend was limited to some regions such as Korea and Taiwan, it also showed limitations in its expansion into the global market. Due to this, Korean game companies have recently been focusing on developing various genres of games for PCs and consoles as well as mobile role-playing games," Chung Ui-hoon, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities, said.

Line Games is gaining attention in the game industry as it recently released an online game "Uncharted Waters Origin" that has no lucky-draw items. Players can advance through the sailing-themed role-playing game and do not need to spend money because in-game items can be purchased with goods that players obtain by playing the game.

Lee Deuk-kyu, director of the game's theme said that he originally planned to adopt the lucky-draw items system for "Uncharted Waters Origin," but decided to remove it to let players directly attain the items via playing the game.

"Many parts of the game changed after the closed beta test started. It was a decision to go with users' wants despites the risk of change. I would like to thank the users who have eagerly awaited 'Uncharted Waters Origin,'" Lee said during an online conference on Aug. 9.

Though Korean game companies have been concentrating on developing role-playing games, which are the most suitable genre for selling lucky-draw items, the companies recently showed signs of changing as they are trying to develop various genres of games at present.

A poster for Krafton's survivor horror game "The Callisto Protocol" / Courtesy of Krafton

Kim So-hye, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said "a noteworthy thing at the Gamescom trade show held in Germany was that there were no role-playing games among new games unveiled by Korean game companies."

At the game show, which was held from Aug. 24 to 28, Krafton, best known for its online shooting game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," showcased previews of its upcoming games ― "Moonbreaker," a turn-based simulation game for PC and "The Callisto Protocol," a survival horror game for PCs, Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.

Neowiz gained attention at the game show, which is one of the largest trade fairs, as the company won the Best Action Adventure Game, the Most Wanted Sony PlayStation and the Best Role Playing Game awards with its upcoming "Lies of P."

The game, which is set in a dark fantasy world, is scheduled to be released in 2023, on PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

Nexon also unveiled a preview video for its shooting game "The First Descendant," which will be released on PC and consoles and PC games "Veiled Experts," "The Finals" and "Dave the Diver."

"Since global game shows like Gamescom are dominated by PC and console games, it is encouraging that PC and console games introduced by domestic game companies have received favorable reviews," a Eugene Investment & Securities analyst noted.

"Of course, games introduced at Gamescom often fell short of expectations after their actual release, but this year's Gamescom was meaningful in that local game companies showed the possibility of diversifying platforms, genres and business models through the development of PC and console markets," he added.

An image of Nexon's shooting game "The First Descendant" / Courtesy of Nexon

Song Doo-heon, professor of the Department of Computer Games at Yong-in Arts & Science University, said the existing business models of making users spend more money to be stronger than others in a game, will be shunned by gamers.

"The purpose of playing games is to feel pleasure, but this kind of business model that induces gamers to spend more and more is making users leave," he said.

The professors questioned whether games with a system that makes gamers buy more in-game items will be more profitable than games created based on fresh ideas.

"Students in my department play games a lot more than other students and many of them said they play console games, PC games or mobile games made in other countries, not Korean games. This is simply because they think the payment system that many Korean games have implemented is not fair. The funny thing is that it was almost the same when comparing the money spent by students playing Korean games and those playing overseas games," he said.

Song added that local game companies should ponder why their online games were so successful when the trend of the game industry was changing into the online game era. "Their success was achieved by creative games with ideas that others could not think of. But now they are only focusing on how to squeeze more money out of gamers' pockets, so there's no reason to develop exciting games," he said.

Government urged to play role to boost game industry

Industry officials also pointed out that the government has not been able to properly resolve the difficulties facing the game industry.

For six years game companies have been finding it difficult to release their new games in China, which has the world's largest game market.

After tensions rose between the two countries due to Korea's decision to deploy the U.S. anti-ballistic missile defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in 2016, only a few games have earned licenses from China.

President Yoon Suk-yeol made various pledges to boost the competitiveness of the country's game industry when he was a presidential candidate, but it was found that game industry-related policies were excluded from the white paper published on Aug. 16 by the ruling People Power Party on the occasion of the 100th day of the new administration.

The industry paid keen attention to Yoon as he emphasized the fostering of a blockchain-based game industry when he was running for president. Gamers also expressed their hopes of enjoying both leisure and profits through play-to-earn (P2E) games and the game industry was preparing for a new business model in anticipation of regulatory reforms for blockchain games.

Under the law here, cashing in items obtained from playing games is prohibited. To find a breakthrough, officials from the local game industry had a meeting with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in July, asking the government to revise the Game Industry Promotion Act to allow blockchain game services.

However, Culture Minister Park Bo-gyoon reiterated the government's existing stance, saying that "the P2E games have two kinds of nature that, on the one hand, it is an emerging technology, but on the other side it has a nature that may encourage a desire to gamble, so a comprehensive approach is needed."

"It's premature to talk about it when the government's policy has not come out, but the government seems to view the game industry as a subject to be regulated rather than an industry to be promoted," an official from the game industry said on condition of anonymity.