K-Content News

Game IP in search of new worlds

Future of Korean games in convergence - ‘Diversity,’ the key to a second heyday

Correspondent Byeon, Dong-hwi, Kyunghyang Games

The Korean game industry, now long past its 2000s heyday in the era of online games, is expanding its business areas in search of new growth drivers. Key Korean game companies are currently making inroads in various fields using their online game IP (intellectual property). Their efforts include working toward the recognition of e-sports as legitimate sports, and realizing convergence with a variety of cultural contents such as webtoons, musicals and TV programs. These efforts aim to breathe new life into games, and expand their influence. However, experts point out that efforts outside of games will encounter limitations when it comes to finding new income sources and growth drivers. This is to say that the successful expansion of game IP requires the increased substantiality of the games themselves. To this end, ‘diversity’ will need to be fostered through innovation throughout the industry. Just as ‘Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG)’ led the popularization of the “battle royale” genre and spearheaded genre innovation in the global game industry, the game industry will need to think deeply and make a range of efforts across a variety of elements, including gaming genres, playability, storytelling that captivates users, and profit models.

Games and the general public

Without a doubt, the key word penetrating the Korean game industry over the past few years has been ‘IP’. Many companies have been searching far and wide for original works such as webtoons and web novels that can be turned into games. Examples include ‘God of High School’ from YD Online, based on an original webtoon, and the ‘Moonlight Sculptor’ mobile game being developed by XL Games based on genre literature. The utilization of game IP has also been gaining attention. This has shed light on the value of the major titles that dominated the 2000s, the heyday of Korean online games, as IP. Accordingly, the Korean game industry has been diversifying the utilization of game IP. NCSoft's proactive stance toward the utilization of game IP is considered to be based on recognition of the expansion potential of the online game IP that the company holds. The online MMORPG ‘Blade & Soul’ was turned into the musical ‘The Black Witch Jin-Seo-yeon,’ which made its debut at Busan Cinema Center as part of the ‘Blade & Soul Tournament World Championships’ during ‘G-Star 2015’. The production attracted a great deal of attention, being directed by first-generation Korean actor Nam, Gyeong-Ju and featuring leading stars such as Lisa, Kim,Han-jae, Son, Ha-yoon and Eden. The film told the story of the life of Jin, Seo-yeon, a character in the original game, through dance, song and various imaginative musical devices, demonstrating new potential for interpretation of original content. As games develop a higher profile, game contents are making their way into television. Nexon, partnering with Korean terrestrial broadcaster MBC, produced the TV entertainment program series ‘- Into a new world based on its mobile game ‘Durango: Wild Lands’. This was a first for a Korean game company. The program, produced by Park, Jin-gyeong who is known for the celebrated series ‘My Little Television,’ shows the drama and stories of 10 celebrities stranded in the virtual world of ‘Dunia.’ The unique sounds and UI of the game ‘Durango: Wild Lands’ were incorporated into the TV program, making the program feel familiar to fans of the game. Celebrities on the TV show had to collect berries, draw water and hunt for hermit crabs in the mud flats, which was reminiscent of the missions in the original game, and the sound effects following the completion of missions were borrowed as-is from the game for added familiarity. As well, the ending of the first episode was decided by a viewer vote, increasing viewer participation. This was an effort to transplant the format of ‘Durango: Wild Lands,’ in which the outcomes vary depending on a user’s play patterns, instead of being predefined as they are in conventional games. Netmarble has opened the ‘Netmarble Store’ at L Cube in the Hongdae district, kick-starting its OSMU (one source, multi-use) business focused on ‘Seven Knights for Kakao and ‘Everybody’s Marble for Kakao.’ The company also produced the animation series ‘Stone Age: The Legendary Pet’ with Iconix using its ‘Stone Age’ IP, which was broadcast via KBS 2TV. And the efforts of Korea’s major game companies to attract consumers through convergence with various broadcasting, entertainment and character goods products do not end there.

The de facto next-generation growth driver

On this phenomenon, Mr. Wi, Jong-hyun, president of the Korea Game Society (Chung Ang University School of Business Administration) commented: “The recent amalgamation of games with the fields of fashion and music is proof of their influence and popular appeal,” adding that “While game contents were previously reserved for avid fans, they now appeal to all generations.” This is to say that games have a completely different standing in society than they did in the past: while they were previously the domain of enthusiasts alone, today they have a broad presence in popular culture. Why, then, are Korea’s major game companies focusing on IP? The answer is in the vast user pools that popular IPs command. On the micro level, game companies seek to capitalize on the high degree of awareness popular game IPs have to save on marketing costs and attract users; on the macro level, they seek to establish franchises that comprise both games and heterogeneous contents. The success of mobile games using online game IP has further stimulated this trend. A key example is ‘Lineage.’ In December 2016, Netmarble launched the mobile MMORPG ‘Lineage 2 Revolution,' which is based on the IP of the ‘Lineage 2’ online game from NCSoft. NCSoft also ported its renowned ‘Lineage’ game series to mobile, launching ‘Lineage M.’ Both were record successes in the domestic market, and simultaneously ranked among the highest-grossing titles worldwide. The general consensus is that the reason for the success of the two titles was that they were able to attract users with a nostalgia for ‘Lineage’ to the mobile domain. Netmarble and NC Soft are currently preparing their second joint project, ‘Blade & Soul Revolution,' in an attempt at a soft landing for the ‘Revolution’ franchise. Meanwhile, NC Soft has announced it will establish ‘Lineage M’ as a standalone brand, taking on the global market. This goes to show just how influential one ‘well-grown’ IP can be. Given the circumstances, companies left and right are focusing on maintaining and enhancing the value of their IP. The domestic game industry has been facing multiple difficulties recently, including a host of regulations such as the game shutdown policy and games from foreign challengers from countries such as China; IP is in effect a ‘lifeline’ for struggling Korean games. WeMade Entertainment is kick-starting its ‘Legend of Mir 2’ IP-related business, with efforts centered on China with a focus on web toons and web novels, promoting off-season server use, and the establishment of joint ventures. For Webzen’s ‘Mu Origin 2’ and Gravity’s ‘Ragnarok M : Eternal Love,’ the IP was provided to Chinese developers in a successful example of an effective business model wherein out-of-country developers create output and the original IP holder collects royalties and retains distribution rights in the global market outside China.

‘Desperate need’ to create new IP through experimentation

However, some point out that Korean game companies’ businesses that utilize IP are still piecemeal and fragmentary, with the business models focused on a small number of large game companies and their IP. That is to say that the phenomenon of ‘the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer’ is being aggravated. It has been pointed out that due to intensified competition in the domestic market, domestic game IP businesses are resorting to ‘reusing’ existing IP rather than engaging in new IP creation. Others have pointed out that the obsession with elements external to games such as business models using game IP has led to less effort being made to innovate the games themselves. The industry is ‘putting the cart before the horse,’ so to speak, and this has led to a decrease in the number of blockbuster games with expansion potential. This point is driven home by complaints from sources within the industry, who say that fun gameplay and innovative playability have been sidelined for the sake of marketing and business models (BMs). The answer, they say, is ‘diversity.’ This is to say that it is necessary to create an environment in which the experimentation that has not been attempted until now can be engaged in without worrying too much about marketing and business models. Instead of ‘manufacturing’ profit-oriented games, it is necessary to explore new directions in terms of genres, contents and playability to sustain the creation of new IP. One such example is ‘Durango: Wild Lands,’ which was mentioned earlier. Over the six years it took until the official launch of the game, the development team drew fully on their powers of imagination in order to produce a game that had been ‘never seen before,’ and ultimately created a masterpiece with a wealth of possibilities. That same spirit was carried over to the TV entertainment program ‘Dunia - Into a new world,’ which pioneered the ‘unreal variety’ (as opposed to the conventional ‘variety’) genre, and is giving viewers a new kind of fun. The game is a prime example that demonstrates how games that are solidly built against a background of diversity carry high value as IP. Games have already become more than a pastime, and have established themselves as a new type of cultural content leading the ‘Korean Wave.’ ‘PUBG,’ one of the most inspiring successes of Korean-developed games, is still enjoyed by millions of users the world over. Some industry analysts say Korean games, going strong on the world stage, are highly valuable, and that the industry needs to be developed into a foundation industry of the country. IP lies at the core of the game industry, an important future industrial sector for Korea. We are at a time when the industry as a whole needs to work together with a broader perspective in order to develop IP into a long-term growth driver.