A mobile game distributor called 4:33 (Four Thirty Three) is planning to reduce the size of its publishing business.
According to 4:33 and game industries on the 16th, 433 is going to put a stop to its publishing negotiations that are currently carrying out their contracts and change its route that will be based on its own development. 4:3 held a board of directors meeting on this day and decided on such policy.
This indicates that 4:33 will stop its distribution project excluding games such as ‘Blade 2’ that are already being serviced and businesses that are being carried out through co-publishing. Instead it is going to focus its abilities into its own work centered on its subsidiaries. It is also going to discuss positively with its subsidiaries if developers want to release their games on their own.
4:33 is planning to reduce number of employees from its distribution and marketing departments and carry out voluntary resignation from its business department. It is heard that Co-President Park Young-ho, who was in charge of game sourcing and distribution, will step down from his position and step away from management.
4:33, which drew attention through unique mobile games such as ‘Gray City’ and ‘Bow’ , drew $88.9 million (100 billion KRW) from Tencent and Line in 2014 and emerged as a powerful mobile game publisher. It put out popular games such as ‘Blade’ and ‘Heroes’ one after the other in 2014.
Action Square was listed on KOSDAQ in 2015 due to popularity of Blade. Largest shareholder of Action Square is Prajna Global Holdings that has Chairman Kwon Joon-mo of 4:33 as the president. 4:33’s subsidiary called Thumb Age that developed heroes was listed on KOSDAQ in 2016.
Status of 4:33’s management has worsened as it did not put out any popular games in 2016 and 2017. Most of its investments was used to acquire its subsidiaries. It is almost certain that it will make overall loss in 2017 as well followed by 2015 and 2016. It has suffered from slump as it has to pay interest on its investments and is responsible for performance of its subsidiaries.
There is almost no room for 4:33 in mobile game markets as large mobile game distributors such as Netmarble Games, Nexon, and NCSoft are marketing their blockbuster games. Position of 4:33’s mid-sized RPGs and shooting games has been narrowed as mobile game markets were dominated by Hit and Lineage 2 Revolution and Lineage M in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
“There is not much space for mid-sized publishers in mobile game markets as Netmarble Games, Nexon, and NCSoft are investing tens of millions of dollars into marketing per quarter and have established a structure where they are making hundreds of millions of dollars.” said a representative for a game industry. “4:33 pulling out from its publishing business well represents harsh environment of mobile game markets.”
Staff Reporter Kim, Siso | siso@etnews.com