In just two months since Battlegrounds started being serviced through Kakao Games, Kakao Games Battlegrounds users are set to catch current Steam server users.
According to PC café industries on the 14th, amount of play times of ‘Kakao Battlegrounds’ has closed upon amount of play times of ‘Steam Battlegrounds’ in South Korea. “Either amount of play times of Battlegrounds will be about the same on Kakao and Steam or amount of play times of ‘Kakao Battlegrounds’ will surpass that of ‘Steam Battlegrounds’ within this month.” said a representative for PC café industry.
“Although it is difficult to make accurate percentages public, it is true that various indicators are continuing to ascend after we started servicing Battlegrounds.” said a representative for Kakao Games.
According to PC café research company called Gametrics, Battlegrounds recorded market shares of 33.08% (based on play times) on the first week of January. This market shares combine play times from Kakao and Steam servers. After Kakao started Battlegrounds service, overall market shares of Battlegrounds increased between 6 and 7%.
“Strengths of Kakao Battlegrounds are pleasant server environment, easy access, and management of personal record.” said a owner of a PC café in Seoul. “It is understood that many previous Steam server users moved to Kakao servers.”
Kakao Games and PUBG are also planning to release Battlegrounds version for youth sometime during the first half. Once this version is released, growth of Kakao Battlegrounds will gain even more momentum. In 2017, PC café industries had had trouble in preventing youths from accessing Battlegrounds, which is a game for adults. This is an indication that there are many demands from youths.
Battlegrounds is a battle royal game developed by PUBG, which is a subsidiary of Bluehole and it has 100 users competing for survival on a designated location. After its early access release by Steam in March of 2017, it sold more than 20 million copies globally and rewrote history of South Korean games. It was awarded the grand prize at 2017 Korea Game Awards.
Safe arrival of Kakao Battlegrounds market is a foundation for Kakao Games and Bluehole to prepare their long-term strategies. They can gain profits just from getting fees from owners of PC cafes. Until now, Battlegrounds has made sales only from package sales.
Although Kakao Games initially planned to delay these fees for two months after releasing Battlegrounds on Kakao server in November of 2017, it extended this period once its service started gaining momentum recently. This indicates that it is currently focused on preparing foundations rather than making profits right away.
Game industries predict that long-run of Battlegrounds’ popularity will be a significant variable for values of Kakao Games and Bluehole. Kakao Games is preparing to become a listed company sometime this year.
Once South Korean service is fairly under way, services in other countries such as China can also make it as a reference. Tencent signed a contract with Bluehole and PUBG last year to publish Chinese service. By doing so, Bluehole and PUBG will be able to commercialize Battlegrounds in Chinese markets separately from Steam server that is being operated as a global server.
Staff Reporter Kim, Siso | siso@etnews.com