Necessary Expansion
Game developers such as Nexon, Com2Us, Neowiz, and DragonFly are planning to release mobile games in fast-growing markets such as Taiwan and Southeast Asia as well as Japan, China, and the United States. This is because these markets are showing a particularly rapid growth, unlike the Korean mobile game market.
Specifically, the Korean mobile game market recorded a growth rate of 89.1 percent in 2012 and 190 percent in 2013, but the percentage plummeted to 4.2 percent last year. It is estimated to stand at just 1.7 percent this year.
According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, sales in the domestic market increased from 423.6 billion won (US$386.2 million) to 800.9 billion won (US$730.0 million) and then to 2.3277 trillion won (US$2.1216 billion) between 2011 and 2013. The estimates for 2014 and 2015 are 2.4255 trillion won (US$2.2112 billion) and 2.4679 trillion won (US$2.2494 billion), respectively.
In the meantime, the Chinese mobile game market is expected to have broken the 4 trillion won (US$3.6 billion) mark last year and to grow at least 50 percent this year. Market research firm eMarketer recently said that the U.S. game market would grow 16.5 percent year-on-year to reach US$3.04 billion this year. Also, the Taiwanese market reached US$279.25 million last year by recording a growth of more than 200 percent from a year earlier. The figures are forecast to amount to US$474 million and 59 percent this year. AsiaSoft, one of the largest online and mobile game suppliers in Southeast Asia, predicted that the Southeast Asian game market would reach US$1.3 billion this year and US$2.2 billion in 2017.