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Jack Lee, wangjb77@gmail.com
Krafton is one of Korea's leading game companies. Krafton quickly became a major developer, with Battlegrounds, a battle royal game that launched the "STEAM" platform in 2017, making an unprecedented hit in the global market.
Krafton has a very interesting difference from other major Korean game makers such as Nexon, NC Soft, NetMarble, SmileGate, and Wemade.
One of the differences is that Krafton is the only company that has dominated the global market on console platforms such as PC, Xbox and PlayStation, where Korean game companies have some weaknesses.
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| ▲ Screenshot image of "Callisto Protocol" / Courtesy of Krafton |
The other is the fact that there is only one "battle round" of killer content that makes the company's solid profits. Battle Ground has sold more than 70 million packages so far, and the mobile version is a mega-hit with hundreds of millions of downloads.
Krafton has launched new games several times since the hugely successful launch of "Battle Ground," but has repeatedly failed to produce satisfactory results.
"Battle Ground Mobile," a mobile version of "Battle Ground," has been a big hit in the global game market. Nevertheless, due to the fact that the two games are actually the same source, many experts remember Krafton as just a one-hit game company.
Krafton's other ambitious work, Callisto Protocol, will officially begin service around the world on the 2nd of next month. As a result, it is drawing keen attention from gamers and game industry workers how popular the game will be in the future.
In the Korean game industry, it is emerging as a very interesting concern whether Krafton will be able to shake off its regrets and create a new mega-hit IP with "The Callisto Protocol."
There are so many variables that determine whether a new game succeeds or fails. For this reason, it is difficult to easily affirm the success of "The Callisto Protocol" at this point. However, considering various conditions, critics generally predict that the game is highly likely to succeed.
The first reason for this is that "The Callisto Protocol" can first receive the halo of "Battle Grounds," which has become a global mega-hit. Krafton has a huge gamer DB thanks to Battle Ground's big hit, which has very favorable conditions for the intensive promotion of "The Callisto Protocol."
Second, "The Callisto Protocol" is a unique genre of survival horror action, in which Glenn Scofield, the developer of the genre's original "Dead Space," directly participated in the development of the game.
The participation of the developer of "Dead Space," which has been praised by critics and users since its launch in 2008, is enough to draw the attention of users who enjoy survival horror action genres around the world.
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| ▲ Gamers are waiting in line to demonstrate the "Callisto Protocol" at the G-Star exhibition hall. / Courtesy of Krafton |
In addition, "The Callisto Protocol" succeeded in drawing keen attention at the Busan International Game Show "G-Star 2022," which was held from the 17th to the 21st of this month, with a clear distinction of being a third-person action survival horror genre and high quality. The "The Callisto Protocol" demonstration booth in the "G-Star2022" exhibition hall, which Krafton introduced two weeks before its official release, attracted countless gamers and had to wait in line for more than an hour to play the game.
Song Jong Hwa, analyst of best Investment & Securities, said "the single play survival horror genre has a wide niche user base. As a result, sales of "The Callisto Protocol" will steadily increase, with sales of 3.1 million PCs and console platforms in the first quarter. The annual cumulative sales are likely to easily surpass 6 million units."
Although Krafton is one of Korea's leading game makers, it is regrettable that it has not found a follow-up to the Battleground myth. Whether Krafton will be able to resolve the resentment of "The Callisto Protocol" is emerging as an interesting viewing point for gamers and the game industry around the world.
