The traditionally online and free-to-play-based game industry of South Korean game development may be shifting gears. According to a recent report from Wesley LeBlanc in the final issue of Game Informer, developers at multiple studios like Round8 Studio, Shift Up, and Pearl Abyss are seeing signs that players at home and abroad are attracted to single-player experiences on PC and console.
LeBlanc reached out to developers after seeing these companies releasing single-player games like Round8 Studio’s Lies of P, Shift Up’s Stellar Blade (published by Sony Interactive Entertainment), and Pearl Abyss’ upcoming Crimson Desert. Even longtime online and mobile publishers are spreading their platform wings, with Nexon subsidiary Neople soon releasing the single-player The First Berserker: Khazan, and NCSoft bringing the free-to-play PC game Throne and Liberty to consoles in September.
Developers at these companies confirmed to LeBlanc that the trend is real—and more of them are joining the “traditional” console and PC market sometimes thought to be calcified here in the West.
But why are they making the jump? There wasn’t one clear answer—instead a constellation of factors seem to be driving the shift. But those stars all orbit the same point: that players buying games on console and PC are hungry for fresh experiences.
South Korean developers see market shifts across the globe and at home
The immediate economic argument for these games is that they open up new overseas markets for South Korean developers. Round8 Studio CEO Jason Park told Game Informer that there are a “fixed number of people” who play single-player games on console and PC in South Korea, and that number “won’t change.” He said Round8 made Lies of P for a global market.
Shift Up CEO and Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung-tae partly agreed with Park, explaining only 5 percent of the PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade’s sales came from his home country, and console share in the country isn’t growing. He does think the market for single-player PC games can grow, which is why the company is considering a PC port for Stellar Blade.
Others do see market movement inside the region. Lies of P director Jin Won Choi said a major indicator he saw was the shift in what games students are making at universities. At a recent showcase, only one out of 17 student groups was making a mobile game.
Hyung-tae said he thinks the shift inside South Korea correlates to an age and income shift in mobile players. Because popular mobile games in the country are so heavily designed around grind-based monetization, older players with lots of money to burn are more likely to play them. He referred to this demographic as being “middle-aged.”
“That’s continued for the past 20 years, and players have become older, so it’s harder to acquire new and younger users for…games,” he told Game Informer.
Pearl Abyss America CEO Jeonghee Jin disagreed with the idea that console growth in South Korea is inevitably stalled, estimating that the market share has grown 4-5 percent since the launch of the PlayStation 4. South Korean game developers didn’t start making console games until that generation, she said.
Jin’s emphasis on developer experience may hold weight. Hyung-tae explained to Game Developer that Stellar Blade’s development was “difficult,” and that the team had to learn much of the process “from scratch.”
Whatever’s driving the growing single-player market, developers and game industry professionals have plenty of reasons to refresh their thinking about South Korean game development.
Normally this would be where we we would link to Game Informer’s original reporting. However GameStop did not publish this story on the outlet’s website before shutting it down, meaning it is only readable in the final print edition of Game Informer. If you wish to read the rest of LeBlanc’s report, we urge you to seek out a physical copy.