Partnership with Tencent
Korean gaming companies have forged a partnership with Chinese Internet giant Tencent, starting to target the Chinese mobile gaming market.
Tencent, which rarely went into partnership with Korean companies in the past, is now actively opening its doors. The phenomenon can be interpreted as its strategy to boost stagnant mobile game sales by showcasing a variety of games.
Tencent’s ties with Korean game developers started when online games Cross Fire and Dungeon & Fighter were hugely popular in the market. After the success of messaging app WeChat, Tencent made another success in linking WeChat to a gaming platform. Aside from WeChat, Tencent's another messaging app QQ is also linked to a gaming platfrom, and the company is operating app market App Gem. At first, popular games in KakaoTalk's gaming platform were expected to be released through WeChat's gaming platform, but Tencent rarely opened its door to Korean games. Instead, the company emulated popular Korean games like Wind Runner or Anipang, which was under blame from the Korean gaming industry.
The fact that Tencent is opening its door to Korean gaming companies this time lies in the fact that the Chinese firm has alrleady started its investment in Korean companies. Moreover, the stalled growth of its moblie gaming business is considred to be another factor. Netmarble Games, 4:33 Creative Lab, and PATI Games received a huge amount of investment from Tencent, and thus their games practically belong to the Chinese company.
Gamevil's Dragon Blaze is also owned by Tencent, since the Chinese firm bought an ownership stake in Flint, the developer of the game.
A business partnership with Tencent alone cannot guarantee a game's success. But when games are simultaneously launched in the gaming platforms of WeChat and QQ, the effect is likely to be maximized. If games cannot be reviewed favorably in a closed beta test after striking a deal with Tencent, those games can be released in only QQ's platform.