Game companies aiming for global market gather in Busan

(Yonhap)

G-STAR 2024, South Korea’s largest gaming exhibition, kicked off on Thursday at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center in the southern port city of Busan.

With a record-breaking 1,375 participating companies, the 2024 edition is the biggest yet.

At G-STAR’s main exhibit hall, BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1, main sponsor Nexon Corp. set up a large booth with 300 display areas, showcasing new games like “Overkill,” “Super Vibe,” “The First Berserker: Khazan,” and “Gensei Suikoden Online” for visitors to try.

Major game companies such as Netmarble Corp., Krafton Inc., Pearl Abyss Corp., and HYBE IM also presented a range of new, unreleased games in various genres, capturing the attention of gaming fans.

The venue was packed with visitors eager to experience these ambitious new games, developed for global markets, ahead of their official releases.

In front of Nexon’s The First Berserker: Khazan exhibit, which had previously been shown at Germany’s Gamescom and Japan’s Tokyo Game Show, lines began forming as soon as the event opened, with wait times exceeding 120 minutes.

Pearl Abyss also premiered a trial of “Crimson Desert,” drawing considerable attention from domestic attendees.

A notable trend among this year’s G-STAR titles is their focus on overseas markets, particularly North America and Europe. Out of about 20 titles presented by seven major Korean game companies, 80 percent, or 16 games, are either confirmed for global release or under consideration for international launch.

Nexon’s The First Berserker: Khazan and Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert are prime examples, while Krafton showcased five globally targeted new titles, including the newly revealed shooter game “Project ARC.”

For Korean game companies, expanding into overseas markets is now a necessity rather than a choice, as the domestic gaming market has hit a plateau, making growth through international expansion essential.

Netmarble introduced “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad,” a role-playing game based on the “Game of Thrones” IP, along with “MONGIL: STAR DIVE.”

Notably, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is set to launch first in Western markets, making its success overseas crucial.

“The gaming industry has always experienced cycles of growth and stagnation,” Netmarble Founder Bang Jun-hyuk said. “It is actually a challenging time right now.”

Bang highlighted two current gaming trends - multi-platform play, where players seamlessly switch between mobile, PC, and console, and transmedia, which extends successful IPs, such as webtoons and dramas, into gaming.

An example of this is Netmarble’s “Solo Leveling: Arise,” a game based on the popular webtoon on Kakao Page, which surpassed 20 million downloads in just two weeks, achieving global success.

“Korea possesses excellent IPs that resonate globally,” Bang said. “Our strategy will be to expand these IP universes with new stories and reimagined releases.”

Joining Bang at the event were other industry leaders, including Nexon’s CEO Kim Jung-wook, Netmarble’s CEO Kwon Young-sik, and HYBE IM’s CEO Chung Woo-yong.

Meanwhile, first-time G-STAR participants, including Lionheart Studio under Kakao Games Corp., Gravity, Webzen, and HYBE IM, showcased titles set for release in 2025.