In early October, 2020: My Country was released in South Korea with the support of Kakao. In connection with the release, we contacted Daria Trushkina, Vice president of business Development at Game Insight, who spoke about her experience working with Kakao and the Korean market.
Daria TrushkinaFirst of all, congratulations: if we are not confusing anything, 2020: My Country is the first Russian game that appeared on the Korean market with the support of Kakao.
How long did the deal take? How long was the product prepared from the moment of signing the contract to the release? Thank you for your congratulations!
The deal was signed for about two months, the integration took another two months, given the localization and adaptation of the game for Korean users.
How easy was it to collaborate with Kakao? Was the language barrier a hindrance? The cooperation was fruitful and easy, since both sides speak excellent English.
I would like to note the timeliness and speed of actions and reactions of Kakao management in communicating with us.
What requirements did the Korean side have for the project in addition to localization? Were there any fundamental points that I had to face for the first time?The virality of the application is somewhat different, and since Cocoa is a separate platform, we took into account their suggestions for adaptation to the maximum – they know their audience better than us, therefore, it is worth following their advice.
We compared screenshots of the English version of the game with the Korean version and found no difference. Even the icon remained almost the same (only instead of the Game Insight logo – the Kakao logo). The question arises: is it possible to say that the need to change the visual style of Western games for the Asia-Pacific region is a myth? We believe that every game should be created taking into account the peculiarities of local markets.
The game is launched on Cocoa, but the difference will become noticeable in the very next updates – especially after the launch of several elements designed exclusively for Korean users.
Why you decided to enter the Korean market with the support of Kakao is quite understandable. Five out of ten games in the box office top of South Korea are marked for Kakao. However, for Game Insight, such an experience is clearly new. Wasn’t there a temptation to try to enter the market on your own first, and then, if something goes wrong, turn to Kakao? And if so, why didn’t you follow this path?Game Insight has been present on the Korean market for more than a year.
Our games have firmly established themselves in the tops of the T-Store (SK Telecom), which recently lost the first position to Google Play, although before that it dominated the Korean market and was the largest app store. We are actively localizing and adapting our games for Korean users on Google Play and are confident that the experience gained earlier will serve as a serious guarantee of success. Kakao is the next step in conquering the Korean market: our games are worthy of catching the eye of a hundred million audience of this platform.
It is worth mentioning that we release localized versions of our games by Korean users independently, and they also show decent results. For example, the wonderful Airport City game was in the TOP 20 of the local Google Play, which is a great achievement.
Are your and partner’s expectations for the project, the numbers of downloads and purchases confirmed?Regarding Kakao, it is still early enough to evaluate the results, but the potential is already visible.
Besides the fact that the project appeared in the list of games in Kakao Talk, have you used other marketing tools to attract Korean players? If so, which ones? If not, are you planning to?We haven’t attracted them yet, but we are already developing a detailed plan.
As on other platforms, the main marketing tool for us is cross promotion, therefore, we will launch more games on this platform.
Which of the Korean stores downloads your project more actively – in the App Store or Google Play (can be in percentage terms)?Google Play is an absolute monopolist in Korea, the App Store today occupies about 2% of the market.
This is due to the fact that South Korea is a country of Samsung and LG, whose devices support Android.
The game currently has a very low rating (2 stars in the App Store, 2.6 stars in Google Play). What exactly do users dislike? We had a small problem with the font on some Android devices and, unfortunately, our Korean colleagues did not pay attention to it.
This is the main reason, but we are sure that the rating will change for the better soon, since the problem has already been solved in the current version of the game.
Over the past year, Kakao’s portfolio has swelled greatly from projects. Gamevil claims that the efficiency of cooperation with the company falls in direct proportion to the increase in the number of products. Is this the case, or does Kakao successfully solve the visibility problem in its own store? If so, how exactly?Kakao is a completely viral tool, they don’t have banners, and the main way to increase visibility is to display new games in the New category.
Everything else depends on the quality of the game and user reviews.
What can you advise domestic developers on entering the Korean market?Only one thing – we need to get out!
South Korea is the second market after Japan in terms of profit and user monetization. This market generously spoils developers of great games!
Do you plan to launch games on the Line platform and in other mobile social networks?If there is an opportunity, and it will make sense – definitely!