作者：Kim Hyung-eun

手机游戏在韩国的发展并没有像网游那样繁荣发展。尽管智能手机相当流行，但韩国手机游戏业务的增长明显较慢。主要原因在于严格的审查制度。在韩国，游戏投放到市场前必须由游戏分级委员会审查和评级。

这导致像苹果和Google之类的公司不向韩国用户提供任何游戏。去年，App Store和Android Market运营公司关闭韩国用户设备上的游戏类别应用。

Korean mobile game market

手机游戏巨头竞相争霸

上述情况即将发生改变。3月份，国民大会通过所谓的“开放市场”法律，使审查制度有所松懈。据称该法律将从7月起开始生效，尽管放宽的尺度仍在合理调整中。

某行业观察者说道：“改革提案在国民大会上积压了两年时间，韩国手机游戏业务也停滞不前。尽管现在有了这个好消息，但赶上世界的步伐还需要许多工作。”

虽然苹果和Google还未说明是否会重新开放游戏类别，多数从业者期待他们能够这么做。

这两大公司的关注将会使这个市场中的竞争更为激烈，此前市场几乎由IT初创公司控制。

三星电子与美国游戏发行商ngmoco合作，在国外版本的Galaxy S II智能手机上预载名为“Game Hub”的游戏平台。据报道称，KT将于今年发布自己的游戏平台，代号名为K-park。

三星行政官员对韩国媒体称：“我们已经准备好应对韩国应用商店开放游戏类别的事宜。”

网游发行商也趁势出击，韩国最大游戏开发商Nexon计划于今年发布30款左右的手机游戏，游戏巨头NCsoft正将旗下网游《魔法之英雄无敌：王国》开发成手机版本，NHN所属游戏公司Hangame近期成立智能设备游戏开发公司。

魔法之英雄无敌：王国

韩国手机游戏市场态势

尽管受到限制，游戏依然是韩国智能手机用户下载最多的应用之一。

游戏软件制作商将游戏放在App Store的娱乐类别中，以此避开限制。韩国游戏玩家也可以注册第二个位于韩国外的苹果账户，从App Store下载游戏。

手机游戏可以在韩国盈利已是公开的秘密，专家表示未来的发展将称心如意。

韩国文化体育观光部创意内容署表示，韩国手机游戏市场去年价值仅4242亿韩元（游戏邦注：约合3.9亿美元），但今年将上涨至4878亿韩元，明年总价值将达到5365亿韩元。而且这些数据还不包括苹果和Google市场的游戏类别。

韩国游戏行业协会行政主管Shin Pil-su说道：“如果苹果为韩国用户的App Store开启游戏类别，那么市场预测值将可能翻倍或更多。”

观察员还表示手机游戏满足普通公众的诉求，而不仅仅是硬核游戏玩家。某行业资料中说道：“多数玩《愤怒的小鸟》等流行手机游戏的玩家都是女性。手机游戏玩起来很容易，对非游戏玩家也有很大吸引力。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

‘Big bang’ of mobile games

Kim Hyung-eun

When it comes to the mobile games sector, Korea hasn’t fared nearly as well as it has in the online game segment. The growth of the mobile game business in Korea has been notably slow despite the explosive popularity in the use of smartphones. One of the main culprits has been strict government censorship. In Korea, games must be reviewed and rated by the Games Ratings Board before they become available on the market.

This has prompted companies like Apple and Google to simply not offer any games to Koreans. The companies that operate the App Store and the Android Market closed their game category for Korean users last year.

Giants are coming

That’s about to change. The so-called “open market” law was passed by the National Assembly in March, relaxing the censorship. It is expected to take effect from July, although the degree of the relaxation is still being fine-tuned.

“For the last two years that the reform proposal was pending at the National Assembly, the growth of Korea’s mobile game business has halted, as well,” said an industry observer. “So while it is good news, there’s a lot of catching up to do.”

While Apple and Google remain mum about whether or not they will reopen the game category, most industry sources expect them to do so.

It appears they are hardly the ones eyeing the promising segment, signaling intensifying competition in a market that has been mostly dominated by IT start-up companies.

Samsung Electronics joined forces with U.S. game publisher “ngmoco” to preload a game platform dubbed “Game Hub” on the foreign version of the Galaxy S II smartphone. KT will reportedly launch its own game platform, codenamed K-park, this year.

“We are ready to respond when the game category opens in application stores in Korea,” a Samsung official told Korean media.

Online game publishers are jumping on the bandwagon: Nexon, Korea’s No. 1 game developer, is planning to release about 30 mobile games this year; NCsoft, another game giant, is working on the mobile version of its online game “Might and Magic Heroes Kingdoms”; Hangame, the game unit of NHN, recently founded a smart device game developing entity.

Why mobile games?

Despite the restrictions thus far, game applications are some of the most downloaded applications by Korean smartphone users.

They worked their way around the restrictions: Game software makers would list their games on App Store’s entertainment category. And Korean game users would create a secondary Apple account set outside Korea to download games from the App Store.

So it’s no secret that there’s money there. And experts say the future is rosy.

According to Korea Creative Content Agency, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports, the Korean mobile game market was worth just 424.2 billion won ($390 million) last year but will surge to 487.8 billion won this year and to 536.5 billion won next year. And that is excluding the game categories of Apple and Google.

“Should Apple open a game category at the App Store for Korean users, the predicted market size could be double or more what it is,” said Shin Pil-su, the policy director at the Korea Association of Game Industry.

Observers also note how mobile games appeal to the general public, not necessarily just hardcore game fans. “If you look at who plays popular mobile games like the Angry Birds, most of them are women,” an industry source said. “Mobile games are easy to enjoy and have a huge potential beyond game manias.” (Source: Korea Joongang Daily)