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| Models promote Netmarble Games and Bluehole Squall's new mobile game "Tera M" during a media showcase at the GLAD hotel on Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Netmarble Games |
New mobile game to debut in November
By Yoon Sung-won
Netmarble and Bluehole have joined hands for new mobile role-playing game "Tera M," seeking to solidify their presence in the domestic and international mobile game markets, according to the companies, Monday.
The nation's largest mobile game company and a mobile game development unit of Bluehole have announced they are jointly developing the mobile game and will launch it here in November both through Google Play and Apple Appstore.
As "Tera M" faces competition with similar mobile games such as Nexon's "Alliance X Empire," Netmarble said it aims to make it the top-grossing mobile game, following the success of Netmarble's "Lineage 2: Revolution."
Released last December, "Revolution" was ranked No. 1 in the mobile game market here, generating about 206 billion won within the first 30 days of its release. But the game lost its position to NCSOFT's "Lineage M" in July.
"The goal, of course, is the top perch," Netmarble Games Chief Business Officer Paek Young-hoon said during a press conference in Seoul, Friday. "We are working to make the game remain in the No. 1 position for a long time, not just for an instant."
Paek hinted that the company will release the mobile game in overseas markets for greater success, tapping into the popularity of its original game intellectual property worldwide.
The original version of "Tera" was made by Bluehole as a computer online role-playing game. It was released in Korea in 2011 and has been rolled out in other markets such as Japan, North America, Europe and Taiwan. The game has since drawn about 25 million users globally.
"Netmarble now understands the global markets through successful launch of the Revolution in Asian countries including Japan. Also, the original TERA has had its fandom globally including Japan and the United States," Paek said. "For Tera M, we will mainly target in overseas countries where we have knowhow of the marketplace and where the Tera intellectual property can be well accepted."
"Tera M" will also be a challenge for Bluehole in the mobile game market. Expectations are high as Bluehole is currently enjoying unexpected market success with its online shooting game "Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)" on the global stage.
Though it still is an incomplete prerelease version, more than 10 million copies of "PUBG" have been sold globally through the world's largest game distribution channel Steam. It also topped the Steam platform with over 1 million users concurrently playing it worldwide.
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