A poster for "MISTOVER" that Krafton plans to release for Nintendo Switch within the year / Courtesy of Krafton



By Jun Ji-hye



Game developers and publishers here are moving fast to develop and release games for console devices to secure new sources of revenue and expand their presence in the global market, company officials said Monday.



Their move to diversify game publishing platforms beyond PCs and mobile phones comes as the domestic PC and mobile game markets appear to have been saturated.



In addition, game firms have continued experiencing difficulty in exporting their products to China, the world's largest game market, amid China's regulation and its protest of Korea's deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system.



Officials said it has become essential to release games for console devices such as PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch to target other big markets such as North America and Europe.



Krafton, previously Bluehole, said it plans to release a new role-playing game "MISTOVER" for Nintendo Switch and global online game platform Steam within the year.



"From the beginning, we have developed the game to target the global market by differentiating platforms and genre," said Han Dong-hoon in charge of the development of "MISTOVER."



For its part, PUBG, a subsidiary of Krafton, released its mega-hit computer game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" for PlayStation 4 on Dec. 7.



Another game firm Pearl Abyss released its multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), "Black Desert" for Xbox One in Europe and North America, earlier this month.



The company said the game has been well-received by gamers in those markets, noting that it has added 12 more servers to the existing 10 since the release of the game.



Large game firms have also been active in developing and releasing games for console devices.



Nexon released its multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) game "Hyper Universe" exclusively designed for Xbox One in August.



The firm's subsidiary in the United States is also developing a fighting game for console devices.



"The popularity of PC and console games has been increasing in overseas markets," a Nexon official said. "We are giving consistent efforts to develop various genres of games for various platforms."



Netmarble, which has focused on mobile games, is developing its "Seven Knights" for Nintendo Switch.



NCSOFT is also set to utilize its intellectual property of "Lineage" to expand its platform to console devices and various other platforms.



According to market researcher Newzoo, the scale of the global console game market last year was $38.3 billion, up 15.2 percent compared to the previous year. The console game market accounted for 28 percent of the entire game market in that year.



The domestic console game market has also grown 42.2 percent to 373 billion won ($330 million) in 2017, according to the Korea Creative Content Agency.

