The Kid is teacher for the grown-up?

March 8th, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh Posted in news |

Keyword `caual' in Korean online gaming is now fast changing itself into 'kid.' Most of games that are to be released from big fish developers consider younger generation as their main target.

1. NCSoft are to release ATrix. It is an arcade-style brawler.
2. Nexon is going to go open beta for Kung-fa online. Thiw is comic book style action game.
3. Goorm Interactive that was newly set-up by Korean famous game developers, is preparing for two casual games for kids. One is The Bristol and the other is Keroro online which is the franchise of very popular Japanese animation in Korea.

The core of these new releases is "easy to learn & free to enter." All of them base their business model on micro-payment. This rush seems to be resulted from the big and continued profitability of games like Maple Story, Kart Rider.

One intriguing point is why developers are so concentrated on the kid's flavor. Usually, casual games have been developed targeting vaguely for all ages, but the above anticipated are to narrow themselves down only to the younger.

A game designer said on this. "A game cannot avoid some hardcore parts even when you try hard to make it casual. So to speak, even casual games may be hard to learn for the green. For this reason, it is an effective strategy to develop the game for kids. This orientation would help non-gamers entering into gaming."

I think the rush for kids is obviously influenced by their hidden purchasing power(actually, it is that of their parents). But, as the designer told, Kid can be a guiding light for the grown-up with little gaming experience.