Some interesting news has come up all the way out in East Asia.
Twitter account KoreaXboxNews shared this news a few days ago:
“It is news that Sony is in contact with many Korean game publishers.
Sony, which has a sense of crisis over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, is trying to secure Korean game content.
Sony’s contacts include Pearl Abyss, Neowiz, Com2us, and NCsoft.”
KoreaXboxNews linked out to Money Today Networks, AKA MTN, a Korean 24 hour financial news channel and part of Money Today Media Group. MTN seems to have editorialized that Sony’s push for Korean game companies is a reaction to the Microsoft Activision deal.
Korean game companies have, of course, has been trying to expand from their domestic success, to the global market, for many years now. Closest to memory may be Krafton’s publishing of The Callisto Protocol, and now, the upcoming Lies of P from Neowiz.
Steve Papoutsis, who works for Krafton owned Striking Distance Studios, had stated in an interview that Korea is set to have huge success around the world. This is because Korea already is one of the biggest video game markets globally, with many experienced game developers.
Now, one can argue that Korea has already made it several times. If you look at individual titles, games like PUBG and Black Desert Online are popular titles now. There are also a few hits from previous generations, such as Lineage 2, but what Korea hasn’t quite accomplished yet is the same cultural leap that Japan made when Nintendo, Sega, and NEC brought their game platforms to the West in the 1980s and 1990s.
On the flip side, Sony is certainly in the lookout for bringing new content to their Western market. They famously snagged Chinese action game Genshin Impact as a console exclusive, and have also been paying for a few other Chinese games themselves under a China Hero Project.
Even if the Microsoft Activision deal didn’t happen, it’s highly likely that Sony would have already been courting Korean game companies. But this piece of news suggests that they may be accelerating work on a Korea Hero Project, in the hopes that future Lies of P projects will fall under Sony’s umbrella.
Of course, that’s great for those Korea companies, who may only see their games get developed or see their full vision realized with Sony’s funding. It could be great for us too, if Koreans step up to the plate and become a real presence in gaming around the world in the near future.
