[Featured Stock] Game Stocks Surge on News of Foreign Game License Issuance in China

As China resumed issuing foreign game licenses after three months, gaming stocks showed a sharp rise in the early trading session.

At 9:30 a.m. on the 21st in the KOSDAQ market, Devsisters traded at 54,000 won, up 23% from the previous trading day. Other companies also showed gains, including Nexon Games (17%), T3 Entertainment (8%), Joycity (7%), Longtu Korea (6.6%), Dragonfly (3.8%), Mgame (3%), MeetYou (2.6%), and Webzen (2.1%).

On the previous day, China issued 27 foreign game licenses for the first time in over three months since December last year. Among domestic games, the list included △ Netmarble FNC's 'The Seven Deadly Sins' △ Nexon Games' 'Blue Archive' △ Devsisters' 'Cookie Run: Kingdom' △ Nexon's MapleStory H5 △ and T3 Entertainment's Audition IP game.

The market is focusing on the possibility that this issuance of Chinese licenses could activate license issuance for domestic game companies. Dongwoo Kim, a researcher at Kyobo Securities, explained, “The release and performance contribution of these licensed games will likely increase in the fourth quarter of this year or next year,” adding, “Among the games licensed this time, the Chinese regional publishing of ‘Blue Archive’ is handled by Yostar’s subsidiary, a renowned subculture game company, making it the most likely to succeed.”