Kim Young-sik: "Game 3N, Overseas App Market Concentration... Annual Commission Outflow of 1 Trillion Won"

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] Due to the domestic app market neglect by the three major Korean game companies known as 3N (Nexon, NCSoft, Netmarble), there is a severe content imbalance between domestic and overseas app markets. Additionally, distribution channels are concentrated on overseas app markets with high commission fees, resulting in an annual outflow of over 1 trillion KRW in substantial commissions abroad.

On the 22nd, Kim Young-sik, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the People Power Party, released the results of the "Investigation on the Game Content Listing Status of Google Play Store, Apple App Store, One Store, and Galaxy Store." As of the 20th, a total of 53 mobile games released by 3N were found to be listed on both Google and Apple's app markets. In contrast, only 7 titles, or 13%, were listed on domestic app markets.

Looking at each game company, Nexon released 15 mobile games, with 3 listed on One Store and 1 on Galaxy Store. NCSoft released 11 mobile games, with 1 each on One Store and Galaxy Store. Netmarble, which released the most with 27 mobile games, launched only 2 on One Store and none on Galaxy Store.

Kim's office pointed out that "Among the 7 games released by 3N on domestic app markets, only 3 popular games ranked within the top 30 in Google sales rankings, and the latest games were not released at all," calling it a "token listing." Notably, the latest titles from 3N?NCSoft's Blade & Soul 2, Netmarble's The Second Country: Cross World, and Nexon's Cosnova Mobile - Fantastic Days?were released on Google and Apple's app markets but not on domestic app markets.

According to the Mobile Content Industry Survey, last year Google's and Apple's domestic app market shares were 66.5% and 21.5%, respectively, totaling 88%. This figure has not significantly changed compared to 10 years ago in 2011, when Google held 48.8% and Apple 33.6%.

Kim criticized, "Although mobile games are representative app market content, most 3N games are not listed on K-app markets, forcing domestic users to use overseas app markets. 3N cannot be free from responsibility for the domestic app market's dependence on Google and Apple for over 10 years."

He also pointed out that the concentration on overseas app markets leads to an annual outflow of over 1 trillion KRW in substantial commissions abroad. Analyzing 3N's business reports, Kim's office estimated that over the past three years, 3N paid approximately 3.6 trillion KRW in commissions for using overseas app markets such as Google and Apple App Stores.

Kim stated, "While it cannot be overlooked that game companies need to use overseas app markets for global market expansion, if major games were distributed on domestic app markets without discrimination against Google and Apple, it would be possible to protect national wealth worth hundreds of billions of KRW annually and use it as seed money for content development, thereby strengthening K-content competitiveness. As national representative content companies, we expect 3N to bear heavy responsibility and make efforts to revitalize the domestic content industry and app market industry."