In the "Game Industry Report for the Third Quarter of 2022 (July-September)" just released by Gamma Data, we can see that although the growth rate of China's mobile game market (41.643 billion yuan) in Q3 fell a little from the previous month, it is still almost three times the revenue of the end-game market (15.565 billion yuan).
This general trend shows that more and more players are shifting from the position of end-to-end games to mobile game platforms, and the decline of end-game works is becoming more and more obvious, how to find a way out in the current environment to turn the situation around? This may be a topic that many end-game manufacturers have been studying. After all, not all game makers have the confidence to ask the question, "Don't you have a mobile phone?"
This time, let's set our sights on South Korea, where many Korean end-to-end games with classic IP have joined the mobile game position and successfully occupied their own position in this highly competitive track.
Are their results satisfactory? Let Xiaobian take you to take stock today.
"DEKARON G / Challenge G"
The Dark Wind MMO is coming strongly, sweeping the global market
When it comes to dark style games, many players can also think of a classic Korean end-to-end game "Challenge", and its IP mobile game "Challenge M" was also launched in South Korea in April last year.
It also inherits the original plot setting, and optimizes the operation and interface in combination with the characteristics of the mobile terminal, and the subsequent addition of world siege battles, new world-class quests, and new level equipment beyond "legends" also makes players who come to experience it addicted.
The game topped the Google Play Store popularity list on the day of its launch.
It is the continuous good news after the launch, which makes its development team ThumbAge further look at the strategy, after a year of polishing, the global version of "Challenge M" - "Challenge G" has been pre-launched on October 18, and will be officially launched on Google Play and APP Store worldwide on the 25th for players in all regions to download and experience.
The game supports 11 languages including Chinese, Thai and Spanish, which shows the ambition of ThumbAge. This time, the Challenge IP will bring its interpretation of darkness and shock players around the world.
"Priston Tale M / Genie M"
Longevity IP turned to the mobile game track and achieved a blockbuster
As a PC-side MMORPG that has been operating in South Korea for 20 years, "Genie M" can be described as a high-life representative in the game circle, but even so, this IP also needs to continue its influence on the mobile game track to continue its longevity legend. On September 2, the "Genie M" mobile game was officially launched in South Korea.
This mobile game is naturally developed based on the "Elf" (Genie Revival) IP, and highly restores the various game experiences that have been on the PC side. Team up to fight monsters, change jobs, strengthen skills, pet growth, skill enhancement, etc., the core fun of MMORPGs has not changed, making old players directly addicted.
Under such a trend, "Genie M" topped the Google Play free list in South Korea only two days after its launch, and reached the 8th place on the best-selling list in the first week, and the estimated turnover in the month of launch alone exceeded 54 million yuan, which shows the gold-absorbing ability of this wave of IP feelings.
"Genie M" hit the 8th place on the Google Play best-selling list in South Korea in its first week
Dark Eden: BLOOD WAR
Unique vampire theme, mobile game results are gratifying
When it comes to the name "Heavenly Purgatory", some old players must be familiar with it, this classic end-to-end game landed on the national server in 2004, and it is the first domestic vampire-themed online game jointly developed by China and South Korea, and it is also the only "vampire" themed end-to-end game in China so far. At that time, this gimmick also attracted countless players, and on the day of the service alone, the number of online people easily exceeded the 100,000 mark at the same time.
Such a unique MMORPG end-to-end game has now also been added to the mobile game track.
A few days ago, BBGame's new MMORPG "Dark Eden: BLOOD WAR" has been officially launched in South Korea.
Compared with the original IP, the game setting of "Heavenly Purgatory: Blood War" is closer to modernization, and the fierce blood battle between the two major forces in the game - vampires and Slayer, by restoring the original world map, levels, BGM and other elements, so that players can also experience the excitement of the original work on the mobile side.
But after launch, the Heavenly Purgatory: Blood War doesn't seem to stand out from the crowd of Korean MMOs, and players may still be waiting for guild battles and massive PVPs.
Call of the Devil: The Battle of Kroniko
Continue the influence of IP and move forward, multi-platform efforts
Also an extension of the sequel to the old IP, "Call of the Devil: Kronico Wars" performed extremely well among a number of Korean MMORPGs.
This is not only because the development team Com2us accurately grasped the rich plot, challenging RPG elements, and various changes of summoning team matching strategies of the original IP "Call of the Spirits", and perfectly implanted these core elements into the attraction of "Call of the Demons: Kronico Wars", but also the wise decision of multi-platform parallelism cannot be ignored.
The game opened both PC and mobile experiences at the beginning of its launch, and then very quickly underwent a large-scale update this month, with a more difficult challenge of 12-player Raid, a secret copy produced by Demon Shards, a new Demon Spirit Tire "Oreker", and many convenience updates, all of which have added a lot of exciting new content to this veteran IP game, and also give players more space to explore and research.
With such a strong promotion and the exhaustion of double-ended players, "Call of the Devil: Kronico Wars" has exceeded 10 billion won (equivalent to about 49.91 million yuan) in cumulative sales less than a month after its launch in South Korea, and has received rave reviews from players.
I believe that after this month's massive updates, the revenue of this game can set a new record.
Ragnarok
One trick is eaten all over the world, and the spirit of IP is forever
The MMORPG end-to-end game "Ragnarok" adapted from the Korean comic of the same name is also a long-lived IP that has experienced 20 years, and its development team Korean GRAVITY Company also lived up to expectations, announcing the 20th anniversary "trilogy" this year - three new series of works "Ragnarok: Lost Memories", "Ragnarok: Arena", and "RO Ragnarok: The Birth of a New Generation".
Ragnarok: Lost Memories
The appearance of three sequels at once shows the continuous vitality of this IP and the inexhaustible creativity of the development team, and the three sequels are also different in settings, so that players who love all kinds of gameplay can enjoy the fun of the game under the "Ragnarok" IP.
RO Ragnarok: The Birth of a New Generation
In addition, "RO Ragnarok: Love Like First Sight", which focuses on the pure blood inheritance of classic RO, has also firmly held the IP audience in its hands since its launch, and has made efforts at the marketing level, inviting well-known singer Lin Junjie to endorse. With the joint blessing of game IP and Lin Junjie's influence, he successfully topped the best-selling list of Taiwan services.
"RO Ragnarok: Love Like First Sight" specially invited Lin Junjie to endorse
However, the "Ragnarok" IP game exposed on G-STAR in 2019 is not only that.
Of course, an IP eats old is not accepted by everyone, you can see in the comment area of any "Ragnarok" IP game "one trick to eat all over the world, change the soup without changing the medicine", "let Ragnarok go", "gravity seems to live in its own world, no matter what others say", "now the soup can only be clear water" and other comments.
R2M: Rekindling the War
The foundation of local development is solid, and overseas promotion is effective
The MMORPG mobile game "R2M", which is based on the IP of Netzen's end-to-end game "R2", has been launched on the Android and IOS platforms in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan on July 26.
Due to the opening of pre-reservations, and the opening of pre-downloads on the 25th, it was logical to become the top winner of the Apple Store game section in Taiwan on the same day. Similarly, the Apple Store in Hong Kong also broke into the top 20 in the early days of its launch.
R2M is ranked in the Apple store in Taiwan
However, in two different regions, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the treatment of R2M can be described as vastly different. In Hong Kong, "R2M" is only a flash in the top 20 and it is difficult to enter the list; In Taiwan, "R2M" successfully bought a house in the top 200 of the overall list, and its status is difficult to shake.
This may also be related to the different acceptance of the IP by players in the two places.
R2M is ranked in the Apple store in Taiwan
However, "R2M" continues to be strong in South Korea, and although it cannot continue to dominate the list under such cruel competition in the Korean game industry this year, its position is not arbitrarily replaceable. This is the continuation of the "R2" end-to-end game player loyalty to IP, as well as the excellent performance in PVP and player transactions.
other
In addition, well-known "Tree of Salvation M" and "Sword of Excellence M" will also join the competition of Korean mobile game tracks, of course, there are also well-known masterpieces "DNF", "MapleStory" and "Paradise" that have already fought in the mobile game track.
(The "Paradise" family occupies the top five of the rankings all year round, at least three seats)
There is also "Dragon Valley World", although it has been discontinued in Southeast Asia, but the IP of "Dragon Valley" was also famous in China back then, and now the mobile game version has landed on the mainland to start testing, hoping to learn from the previous lessons and give players a satisfactory game experience.
summary
In today's environment, end-game micro-mobile games are still dominant, and many end-game manufacturers are constantly trying to find new ways out. And looking at this inventory, maintaining the characteristics of its own IP and transferring the core elements to the mobile game track is not impossible to spell out a world.
Of course, under such a "new retro" concept, it is also necessary to have enough strength to play, and this point, Korean factory games are obviously more actionable than domestic games, which may also be a point that domestic manufacturers need to be vigilant in time.