8 key facts about South Korea Mobile Game Industry www.chandlernguyen.com Dec 2016 Data mainly from eMarketer

South Korea ranks 4th in the world in terms of Mobile Game Revenue

Mobile game revenue in South Korea is on par with PC/console game revenue in 2016

There are more than 20M mobile gamers in South Korea or 49% of all internet users (42.8M)

About 60% of mobile gamers in South Korea spend more than 30 mins+ per day playing games vs an average of 96 mins on the internet

There are no clear differences between gender amongst South Korean Mobile Gamers

Mobile gamers in South Korea mostly play on Android OS (75%). About half of mobile gamers spend money on games, spending on average monthly $12.8 per payer

35% of South Korean mobile gamers install 4+ games per month to try but they also uninstall them quickly

Local players (9 games) dominate the top 12 grossing mobile games on Google play in South Korea Dec 2016; and 8/12 games are Role Playing games (RPG)

Note: data from App Annie, complete list by App Annie here.

Mobile games as a “bite size” form of entertainment Recent article from eMarketer “Analysing habits of South Korean Mobile Gamers” suggested that “Gamers in South Korea also appear to play such mobile games as a “bite size” form of entertainment rather than as an ongoing activity. More than 78% of mobile gamers spent less than one hour per day playing, and more than 40% spent less than 30 minutes per day. The relatively short time spent figures suggest mobile gaming may be used as a time filler during activities like taking public transit or while multitasking.”

AppLovin interview with Josh Burns AppLovin interview with Josh Burns has many interesting insights as well: “The top 10 games in the market capture nearly 75 percent of the overall market revenue.” - estimate from Josh When you ride the subway there, the majority of ads you’ll see will likely be for mobile games — nearly all of the country’s population is centered around Seoul, making inperson marketing such as subway ads quite effective. Timing for communications is also key for South Korean mobile gamers: local developers tend to send push notifications during commute hours or during the lunch break, and ingame sales often occur around payday (24th-26th of every month). Also, developers have leveraged in-game subscriptions for awhile now, so players are accustomed to that monetisation strategy.