2023-06-22 06:37:43
[비즈한국] Will Pinocchio be the hope of a Korean console game? The market’s interest in ‘P’s lie’, a new game by Neowiz, a mid-sized game company, is hot. The recently released demo version received favorable reviews from domestic and foreign game users. In the past three years, several game companies have challenged the PC console game market, but failed, and interest is focused on whether P’s lies will be successful. Here, in Neowiz, which does not have its own intellectual property rights (IP) to speak of, it is noteworthy whether P’s lie will become the representative IP and lead future performance. The false release of Neowiz’s Soullike console game P is approaching in three months. The developer is Round 8 Studio, which makes PC and console games under the umbrella of Neowiz. Soullike refers to a game that was influenced by the Japanese game ‘Demon’s Soul’ released in 2009. It is a genre that is mainly preferred by maniacs due to the high difficulty of the game in a dark world view. P’s lie is a reinterpretation of the story of Pinocchio as a cruel fairy tale, in which players fight enemies as a puppet made by a genius craftsman in a crumbling city. Neowiz will release a demo version of P’s lies from June 9th to 27th. In the demo version, you can experience up to Chapter 2. The official global release is on September 19th. P’s lie can be played on consoles such as PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox, as well as PC. P’s lie also drew attention last year by recording three crowns, including the first domestic game to be the most anticipated PlayStation game at the German game exhibition ‘Gamescom 2022’. Console games, also called video games, have emerged as a new market in the domestic game industry from around 2020. In fact, compared to the reputation of devices such as PlayStation and Nintendo, console games account for a small portion of the overall domestic game market. According to the ‘2022 Korean Game White Paper’ published by the Korea Creative Content Agency, the proportion of console games in the domestic game market in 2021 was only 5.0%. Mobile games accounted for 84.2% of game usage by field, while console games only accounted for 17.9%. However, the story changes when we turn to the global market. In the North American and European markets, the preference for console games is high and the scale is large. Looking at the size of each global game platform in 2021, console games are worth 55.14 billion dollars (regarding 71 trillion won), much larger than PC games (37.243 billion dollars, regarding 48 trillion won). This is why game companies are targeting the global market with console games instead of saturated mobile and PC games. However, the dominant evaluation is that domestic console games have a long way to go. The same goes for the new one. Krafton’s horror game ‘Callisto Protocol (TCP)’ has been subject to optimization controversy in the PC version since its release in late 2022. ‘Tal Lineage’ and NCsoft’s ambitious work, TL, had to face strong criticism from critics following the beta test. There was an evaluation that ‘it is out of Lineage BM (business model), but it is less fun or fresh’. In this situation, the anticipation of P’s lies is extraordinary. The response to the demo version is positive. In addition to the colorful graphics, the system to find the right weapon by combining the handle and blade of the weapon, and the unique setting that twisted Pinocchio, ‘the more a doll lies, the more human it becomes’, were also well received. Neowiz is actively accepting users’ feedback and working hard on optimization, using precedent as a starting point for calculation. At the showcase on the 9th, Park Seong-joon, head of Round 8 Studio, said, “You can feel our confidence in optimization in the demo experience.” Recently, they also announced a collaboration plan with Japan’s popular soul-like game ‘Waryu: Fallen Dynasty’. Perhaps because of this, the demo version is cruising, exceeding 1 million cumulative downloads within 3 days of its release. P’s lie is a work that occupies a very important place in Neowiz’s portfolio. This is true in that P’s lies can become Neowiz’s representative IP. There are IPs such as the subculture RPG game ‘Brown Dust’ and the idle game ‘Cat and Soup’, but they are mostly casual and publishing. In-house IP and new genres can become Neowiz’s future food. Currently, Cash Cow, which generates steady sales, is a series of web board games such as poker, seotda, and hit, but this has low growth potential. Another limitation is that web board games are subject to strong regulations in Korea. Attention is focusing on whether Neowiz will produce good results this year thanks to the highly anticipated work. The company’s operating profit plummeted from 60.3 billion won in 2020 to 21.2 billion won in 2021 and 19.6 billion won in 2020. Sales are sluggish at the latter half of the 200 billion won range (289.6 billion won → 261.2 billion won → 294.6 billion won). However, P’s lie to be released in September and ‘Brown Dust 2’ released on the 22nd are expected to produce results, and stock market forecasts that Neowiz’s sales and operating profit will be around 400 billion won and 80 billion won this year, respectively. Market expectations were also reflected in the share price. The stock price, which went down to 21,450 won on July 4, 2022, has been on the rise for a year and recorded 47,100 won as of 2:00 on the 22nd. Depending on the box office success of the new film, there is a possibility of recovering the high (53,000 won) recorded in June. Kim Jin-goo, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, analyzed that corporate value would steadily rise, saying, “In addition to the lies of P, which is a new main pipeline, a differentiated game with user-friendly yet fresh game characteristics like Brown Dust 2 will be released.” However, since console games and soul-like games are not popular genres, it remains to be seen whether they will lead to profit. At present, it is at the level of pioneering the market. It seems that it will become a cash cow only when P’s false IP is used to lead to downloadable content (DLC) in the future. The fact that large game companies are aggressive in entering the market is also a threat. Nexon took the lead in the market by developing ‘First Descendant’, a console game in the genre of ‘Root Shooter’ that combines shooting and RPG, while Pearl Abyss is developing topical titles such as ‘Red Desert’ and ‘Goblin’. An official from Neowiz said, “We wanted to hear reviews saying, ‘Neowiz does this by releasing a completely new work in the highly competitive game market. Although the global market is the target because there is a high demand for console games overseas, we are developing it with the goal of ‘becoming the leader of Korean console games’,” he said. You will be able to feel the fun of overcoming difficulties while growing your character.” Reporter Sim Ji-young jyshim@bizhankook.com
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