Recently, according to a report by South Korean media Asia Today, four major South Korean game companies - NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble, and Krafton - are engaged in a fierce competition for the global distribution rights and the rights to develop new games based on the “StarCraft” IP. Some companies have even gone to Blizzard's headquarters in California to give demonstrations to secure a competitive edge.
NCSoft has an advantage in development capabilities and operational experience in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role - Playing Game) field and is the closest to developing RPGs using the “StarCraft” worldview. Nexon has experience in successfully promoting various game genres worldwide and has proposed a unique plan to utilize the “StarCraft” IP, having joined the competition. Netmarble has gained successful experience in the mobile game market and attempts to combine the “StarCraft” IP with mobile platforms, aiming for a strategy that achieves both mass - appeal and in - depth gameplay. Krafton plans to develop a new “StarCraft” game based on its own development capabilities and is said to have challenged for this contract. This company once achieved global success with the battle - royale game “PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds”.
“StarCraft” was released 27 years ago. Thanks to its solid worldview and highly loyal user base, the IP still possesses strong competitiveness. It is reported that the scope of this contract includes the development of new games in various genres such as RPG (Role - Playing Game) and shooting, as well as the distribution rights in the global market. Blizzard is looking for a game company with development capabilities, distribution capabilities, and global marketing capabilities to be the partner for the “StarCraft” IP. Blizzard is very cautious and is carefully reviewing the proposals and operational plans of each game company.
