The traditionally online, free-to-play industry of South Korean game development may be shifting gears. According to a recent report by Wesley LeBlanc in the latest issue of Game Informer, developers at studios including Round8 Studio, Shift Up, and Pearl Abyss are seeing signs that gamers at home and abroad are gravitating toward single-player experiences on PC and consoles.
LeBlanc reached out to developers after seeing these companies release single-player games like Round8 Studio's P's LiesChange gear Star Blade (published by Sony Interactive Entertainment) and the upcoming Pearl Abyss Crimson DesertLong-time online and mobile publishers are also spreading their platform's wings, with Nexon subsidiary Neople soon to release a single-player The First Berserker: Khazanand NCSoft launches free-to-play PC game Throne and Liberty on consoles in September.
Developers at these companies confirmed to LeBlanc that this trend is real, and that more and more companies are joining the “traditional” console and PC market, which is sometimes thought to be frozen here in the West.
But why are they making this leap? There’s no clear answer, but a constellation of factors seems to be driving the shift. But all of these stars are orbiting the same point: Gamers who buy games on consoles and PCs are hungry for new experiences.
South Korean developers see market changes around the world and at home
The immediate economic argument for these games is that they open up new overseas markets for South Korean developers. Round8 Studio CEO Jason Park told Game Informer that there is a “fixed number of people” playing single-player games on consoles and PC in South Korea, and that number “is not going to change.” He said Round8 has done P's Lies for a global market.
Move the CEO up and Star Blade Director Kim Hyung-tae partly agrees with Park, explaining that only 5 percent of the PlayStation 5 exclusive Star BladeSales of have come from its home country, and the console market share in the country is not growing. He thinks the single-player PC game market can grow, which is why the company is considering a PC port for Star Blade.
Others, however, see a market movement within the region. P's Lies Director Jin Won Choi said one important indicator he has seen is the shift in the games students are making at universities. At a recent showcase, only one in 17 student groups was making a mobile game.
Hyung-tae said he thinks the shift within South Korea is related to a shift in age and income among mobile gamers. Because the country’s most popular mobile games are so heavily designed around grind-based monetization, older gamers with a lot of money to spend are more likely to play them. He called this demographic “middle-aged.”
“This trend has been going on for 20 years and gamers have gotten older, so it's harder to acquire new, younger users for… games,” he told Game Informer.
Pearl Abyss America CEO Jeonghee Jin disagrees with the idea that console growth in South Korea is inevitably stalled, estimating that market share has grown 4-5 percent since the launch of the PlayStation 4. He said that South Korean game developers didn’t start making games for consoles until that generation.
Jin's emphasis on developer experience may have some weight. Hyung-tae explained to Game Developer that Star Bladeit was “difficult” and that the team had to learn much of the process “from scratch”.
Whatever the reason behind the growth of the single-player market, developers and professionals in the video game industry have many reasons to renew their views on video game development in South Korea.
Normally this would be where we would link to Game Informer’s original report. However, GameStop did not publish this story on the outlet’s website before shutting it down, meaning it’s only readable in the final print edition of Game Informer. If you’d like to read the rest of LeBlanc’s report, we encourage you to seek out a physical copy.