Korea's online game industry is increasing efforts to dive into overseas markets in a bid to seize bigger business opportunities in the Internet era.Well-known local online game publishers and developers, such as Neowiz Games, NEXON and Hangame, have said targeting foreign markets is a top priority for this year.
"We have no reason to ignore the overseas online game market as it has tens of thousands of potential players, for it continues to grow at a fast pace," Neowiz's chief executive officer Yoon Sang-kyu recently told local media.
Neowiz announced last week that it reached its highest quarterly earnings of 147.7 billion won ($136 million) in sales and 33.8 billion won in operating profit in the first three month due to sharply rising overseas business.The firm's total sales in the overseas markets recorded 70.3 billion won, up 141 per cent from the first quarter of last year.
Cross Fire, Neowiz's online first-person shooter game, was the biggest contributor, securing up to 2.7 million people in China registered to play the game simultaneously.
Largely due to its success in the Chinese market, the game has entered about 20 markets abroad, said Neowiz spokesman Kim Chang-hyeon.
"We're first targeting the Asian markets, which are closer by distance and where the online industry is active," he said. "However, the western and South American markets are not left out from our list since they have a fast growth rate."Currently, Neowiz has two overseas offices in China and the U.S. studying the market situations there and developing mobile applications. It also has a subsidiary in Japan which was created after a merger with Japan's GameOn Co. earlier in 2007. The subsidiary employs over 250 people, said Kim.
NEXON, the country's top online game company by revenue, has also branched out to 70 nations, recording an average of 30 per cent growth per year.
The company has established offices in America, Europe and Japan and it is now attempting to gain more ground in North America with online games such as MapleStory.
"We have no reason to ignore the overseas online game market as it has tens of thousands of potential players, for it continues to grow at a fast pace," Neowiz's chief executive officer Yoon Sang-kyu recently told local media.
Neowiz announced last week that it reached its highest quarterly earnings of 147.7 billion won ($136 million) in sales and 33.8 billion won in operating profit in the first three month due to sharply rising overseas business.The firm's total sales in the overseas markets recorded 70.3 billion won, up 141 per cent from the first quarter of last year.
Cross Fire, Neowiz's online first-person shooter game, was the biggest contributor, securing up to 2.7 million people in China registered to play the game simultaneously.
Largely due to its success in the Chinese market, the game has entered about 20 markets abroad, said Neowiz spokesman Kim Chang-hyeon.
"We're first targeting the Asian markets, which are closer by distance and where the online industry is active," he said. "However, the western and South American markets are not left out from our list since they have a fast growth rate."Currently, Neowiz has two overseas offices in China and the U.S. studying the market situations there and developing mobile applications. It also has a subsidiary in Japan which was created after a merger with Japan's GameOn Co. earlier in 2007. The subsidiary employs over 250 people, said Kim.
NEXON, the country's top online game company by revenue, has also branched out to 70 nations, recording an average of 30 per cent growth per year.
The company has established offices in America, Europe and Japan and it is now attempting to gain more ground in North America with online games such as MapleStory.
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