Netmarble Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk at G-Star: "Transmedia and Multiplatform Strategies Are the Trend"

On the 14th, Bang Jun-hyuk, Chairman of Netmarble, spoke with reporters at 'G-Star 2024' held at BEXCO in Busan. Photo by Lee Jung-yoon

Bang Jun-hyuk, Chairman of Netmarble, visited Korea's largest game exhibition 'G-Star 2024' and introduced future strategies. He presented transmedia, which recreates games using intellectual property (IP), along with multiplatform approaches.

On the 14th, Chairman Bang told reporters, "Netmarble has been implementing a transmedia strategy for 5 to 6 years and has now gained a certain level of competitiveness and confidence," adding, "If we can expand accessibility to users across various platforms by linking the worldview of good IP with new stories in games, I believe it will be an opportunity to overcome material depletion or the limitations of media."

He continued, "In addition to internal IP, we will prepare to divide games into those that follow a transmedia strategy by recreating good IPs that can be widely used and releasing products linked with various media."

Regarding Netmarble's 'Solo Leveling: Arise' winning the Grand Prize at the '2024 Korea Game Awards' held the day before, Chairman Bang said, "I think it is meaningful in that we pioneered the value chain of K-content as a global leading model," and added, "Netmarble's performance has been sluggish in the past 2 to 3 years, which lowered morale, so I am glad this can be an opportunity to boost it."

'Solo Leveling: Arise' was recognized for recreating the original webtoon 'Solo Leveling' IP into a game. Released in May, the game officially launched in 174 countries worldwide, including Korea, ranking number one in downloads in 141 countries. It achieved first place in sales in 21 countries and surpassed 20 million downloads within two weeks of release, marking a successful hit.

Chairman Bang also expressed expectations for the potential of 'Game of Thrones: Kingsroad,' an entry based on the drama 'Game of Thrones' IP, alongside 'Solo Leveling: Arise.'

Furthermore, Chairman Bang foresaw the future game industry becoming multiplatform. He said, "Even users playing the same game have different experiences on mobile, PC, and console," adding, "There are strategies such as simultaneously releasing on mobile and PC first and then launching on console within a short time, or focusing on console from the start. We slightly adjust strategies depending on genre and target market."

However, Chairman Bang judged that the game industry is currently going through a difficult period. He stated, "We are closely watching which media or platform can lead the game industry to new growth," and added, "Although the technology exists, many parts are not yet guaranteed to have mass appeal for general users, so we need to observe for another 2 to 3 years."

Chairman Bang also expressed his intention to attend G-Star annually. He said, "There were cases where we wanted to submit several works but could not due to development schedules," and added, "Since it is an official place to meet users, we plan to participate in G-Star every year unless there are special issues."