One Store Turns First Profit in 5 Years Since Establishment... Industry's Highest Growth Rate

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] One Store, a domestic app market, succeeded in turning an annual profit for the first time since its establishment last year.

On the 20th, One Store announced that it achieved its highest-ever performance in the fourth quarter of last year, marking 10 consecutive quarters of transaction growth, and as a result, recorded an annual net profit surplus for the first time since its founding in 2016. Last year, One Store grew by 34.4% compared to 2019 based on the ‘Mobile Index’ by IGAWorks, which estimates the transaction volume of the three major app markets. This figure is nearly twice the growth rate (18.9%) of other global app markets during the same period.

One Store’s turnaround to profitability is significant in that it proved that coexistence and growth with the industry can be achieved simultaneously. The company explained, “This will serve as an opportunity to further expand our role as a market regulator that healthily protects the domestic app ecosystem against the monopolistic practices of giant global platform companies.”

The core driver of One Store’s growth was games, which recorded a transaction volume approximately 36% higher than the previous year. Along with an increase in released games and users, the simultaneous release of major domestic games on One Store has noticeably increased. Last year, Wemade’s ‘Mir4,’ Nexon’s ‘Baram-ui Nara: Yeon,’ and SundayToz’s ‘Anipang 4’ were simultaneously released and gained popularity. Popular titles such as Gravity’s ‘Ragnarok Origin,’ Yoozoo Games Korea’s ‘Grand Three Kingdoms,’ XEN Games’ ‘Chaos Mobile,’ Changyou’s ‘Illusion Connect,’ and DeNA’s ‘Slam Dunk’ also drove performance.

Growth in the story content sector, serviced through One Store Books, was also remarkable. The story content sector recorded a steep growth rate with transaction volume increasing by more than 40% compared to the previous year. In particular, the subscription product ‘Book Pass,’ which allows unlimited access to not only general books but also webtoons, comics, fantasy, and romance novels, has received a positive response.

One Store also reported encouraging results in the non-game app sector. Due to controversies over excessive fees and unfair practices by foreign app markets, media content providers have flocked to join One Store. Leading domestic content apps such as Wavve and Flo have already launched on the platform, and many other apps including Bugs and Genie Music are expected to be released soon.

Lee Jaehwan, CEO of One Store, said, “One Store is proving that coexistence and growth between content developers and platforms are possible, and that it can serve as a market regulator to check the monopolies of global companies. Building on this achievement, we will accelerate growth to continue coexisting with the industry and provide greater benefits to users.”