Korean game makers push into global console market

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and a well-known gaming enthusiast, has recently become absorbed in a new title. The game is “ARC Raiders,” a PC and console release from South Korean developer Nexon. Musk shared his enthusiasm on X, formerly Twitter, writing that although his heavy workload leaves little time for gaming these days, he still manages to squeeze in 15-minute sessions of ARC Raiders whenever he can.

Major South Korean game developers including Nexon, NCSoft and Krafton are accelerating efforts to move beyond the domestic market, which has long been dominated by mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs. Instead, they are pushing into the global console and PC markets with new intellectual property titles.

According to global market research firm Sensor Tower, worldwide mobile game downloads totaled about 50 billion last year, a 7 percent decline from the previous year. Analysts say the drop reflects increasing competition for users’ attention from streaming platforms and social media services. The “2024 Korea Game White Paper” published by the Korea Creative Content Agency found that while 91.7 percent of South Korean gamers play on mobile devices, only 15.3 percent continue playing the same title for more than two years. The rapid rise of Chinese developers has added further pressure, prompting South Korean companies to look to consoles, which account for a larger share of the gaming market in North America and Europe, as a new path for growth.

Nexon has emerged as a prominent example of this shift as it expands its console portfolio to target Western markets. ARC Raiders has received strong reviews in North America and Europe since late last year. Since its launch in October, the game has sold more than 14 million copies and recorded a peak of more than 960,000 concurrent players. The success is particularly notable because consoles and Western markets were long regarded as Nexon’s weaker areas. As a result, the company reported nearly a fivefold increase in revenue from North America and Europe in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, helping it post record annual revenue of 4.5072 trillion won last year.

Krafton is pursuing a strategy of building a broader franchise around its flagship title “PUBG: Battlegrounds.” The company is expanding the intellectual property into multiple genres, including the extraction shooter “Black Budget” and the battle royale console title “Valor.”

Pearl Abyss is also preparing to release “Crimson Desert” on March 20, widely regarded as one of the most anticipated titles in the global console market this year. The game, which has undergone seven years of planning and development, has already generated significant buzz ahead of launch. It recently ranked fifth among the most popular titles on Steam, a major global PC gaming platform.

Meanwhile, companies are also exploring strategies tailored to global audiences in the mobile gaming segment. NCSoft, long known for its strength in MMORPGs, is expanding into the mobile casual genre, which emphasizes intuitive gameplay.

The move reflects a strategy aimed at North America and Europe, where casual titles tend to be more popular than MMORPGs. In August last year, NCSoft established a Mobile Casual Center and recruited Anel Cheman, who has experience fostering unicorn game companies, to lead the unit.

An NCSoft official said South Korean game developers are accelerating efforts to expand beyond their home market into North America and Europe as well as emerging regions such as India, Southeast Asia and Latin America.


전혜진 기자 sunrise@donga.com