Game Industry New Release Relay
Gaming Gear Sector Mutual Benefits
Active Collaboration Reviews Underway
[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Since the beginning of the year, the gaming industry has been buzzing with anticipation for new game releases. A historic level of competition is unfolding as numerous new titles from popular games that once dominated PC bang market shares are being launched. Consequently, expectations for benefits in the gaming gear industry are also rising.
According to the industry on the 6th, major game companies such as Nexon, NCSoft, Netmarble, Neowiz, Pearl Abyss, and Blizzard Entertainment are actively preparing to release PC and console games this year. The share of PC and console games is rising again after a period when mobile games dominated the domestic gaming market trend.
Nexon’s flagship game, KartRider: Drift, will open its preseason on the 12th. It will be launched on PC and mobile platforms first, with plans to expand to console platforms later. Additionally, the PC game First Descendant is also scheduled for release.
NCSoft is preparing to launch the highly anticipated Throne and Liberty (TL). Netmarble, which has mainly developed mobile games, will expand its PC game lineup by globally releasing HypeSquad in the first half of the year and unveiling the console version of Paragon: The Overprime. Blizzard’s next installment in the Diablo series, Diablo 4, is also expected to be released in the first half of the year.
Other highly anticipated titles such as Neowiz’s P’s Truth and Pearl Abyss’s Red Desert are lined up, and these PC and console new releases are expected to heat up the gaming market throughout the year.
Analysts suggest that the gaming companies’ renewed focus on the PC game market is largely influenced by the slowdown in the mobile game market’s growth. According to the “2023 Global Mobile Market Outlook” report by data analysis platform DataAI, the domestic mobile game market is expected to shrink by 9% compared to the previous year.
As discussions to change the indoor mask-wearing mandate to a recommendation are underway, there is growing optimism that PC bangs will recover their pre-COVID-19 sales levels. This is why interest in Abko, the leading PC bang market share holder in Korea, is increasing.
An Abko representative said, “Compared to the past when operations were suspended due to COVID-19, we feel that the atmosphere in PC bangs has significantly revived recently. Especially this year, with many new releases scheduled, we plan to diversify our business portfolio through various partnerships, including collaborative product development with global game companies.”
Abko’s gaming gear products hold about 80% market share in the domestic PC bang market. They have also created new demand in the home gaming gear market with various brands such as Hacker and COX. This year, their strategy is to differentiate products through collaborations with popular games and increase brand recognition in the global market. In 2021, they released official licensed gaming gear for Pearl Abyss’s Black Desert, and in 2022, they participated in producing official licensed gaming gear for Blizzard’s Diablo II: Resurrected.
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