SmileGate is a leading Korean game company that has grown to around KRW 10 trillion company value through an online FPS game (first person shooting game). The company is a super blue-chip company with sales of 1.5 trillion won and operating profit of about 500 billion won last year.
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| ▲"Burning Beaver 2022" was held successfully in Garosu-Gil, Seoul. / Courtesy of SmileGate |
Smile Gate achieved sales of KRW 1 trillion for the first time since its foundation, with sales of KRW 1 trillion in 2020, up 42% last year. This is thanks to the global mega-hit game "Cross Fire," which has been making huge profits for nearly 20 years, and "Lost Ark"(MMORPG), which were newly released a few years ago, enjoying great popularity and establishing itself as a sure cash cow.
Thanks to its excellent performance, SmileGate rose to fifth place in the Korean game industry in terms of sales last year. There are only four Korean game companies with higher sales than this company: Nexon (2.85 trillion won), NetMarble (2.50 trillion won), NcSoft (2.30 trillion won), and Krafton (1.88 trillion won).
SmileGate has now emerged as a Korean 'TOP 5' game company, but it suffered a tremendous ordeal in the early days of its start-up. In the mid-2000s, "Cross Fire" (original: HeadShot Online), developed by less than 10 developers day and night in the basement, was serviced by Yahoo.com. But it did not attract much attention. So, Yahoo Korea, the publisher of this game, forced the service to stop.
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| ▲ Smilegate's Lost Ark title image / Courtesy of SmileGate |
SmileGate, who was in an extreme situation to close the company, risked its last venture to the fate of the company. "Crossfire", released through Tencent in China, literally hit the jackpot. "Cross Fire" has achieved a dramatic turnaround by enjoying explosive popularity from Chinese FPS users. Since then, SmileGate has been on a roll in the Chinese game market, generating hundreds of billions of winning in royalties every year, creating a myth.
Perhaps because SmileGate has a movie-like history of creating a myth in the brink of collapse, the company has been investing and supporting startups that are preoccupied with game development in the past as difficult as they were.
SmileGate has been working harder than any other company to create a domestic game ecosystem that grows with its partners with keywords of creativity, creation and start-up more than a decade ago. Through a venture capital called SmileGate Investment, it has increased investment in promising game developers.
In particular, SmileGate does not spare support and investment in indie games with its Future Lab Center. Although it lacks capital, it provides ample help throughout the entire process, from developing indie games to launching and selling, by creators with excellent creativity and ideas. In 2015, the company established an indie game division on its own game platform "Stove", serving as a sponsor for indie game developers.
SmileGate, which shows a special attachment and interest in indie games, is an online and offline indie game festival created by creators and fans, "Burning Beaver 2022" was held at Garosu-Gil in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-GU, Seoul.
Unlike existing indie game exhibitions, "Burning Beaver 2022" was held in the middle of Seoul, also in Garosu-Gil, where many young Koreans flock, drawing keen attention from many creators and indie game fans despite the huge cold snap.
The "Burning Beaver 2022", which lasted from the 16th to the afternoon of the 18th, is not a simple showcase, but an online and offline hybrid indie game festival that fully captures the passion, challenge, and experimental spirit of indie game developers. The term "Burning Beaver" symbolizes an indie game developer with a beaver-like passion for building a dam 200 times the size of his body.
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| ▲"Burning Beaver 2022" Showroom Image / Courtesy of SmileGate |
As many as 80 very diverse indie games set up their own booths at the event. In addition to the indie game exhibition, SmileGate also held various events such as conferences, fan signings, business meetings, and curation walls to view the indie game industry trends and share creators' know-how.
Currently, there are a number of indie game events in Korea, including the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) and Indie Craft, but "Burning Beaver" is the only large-scale indie game festival organized by a specific private company.
Baek Min Jung, head of the Future Lab Center, who organized the event, said, "We hope this event will further expand the base of the Korean indie game industry. "Burning Beaver" is a great opportunity to experience various indie games that are a product of the passion, challenge, and experimental spirit of many creators, so we ask for more participation and attention in the future."
The offline event of "Burning Beaver 2022" ended later in the day, but it will continue online until January 15 next year through SmileGate's game platform "Stove". In particular, a total of 59 additional indie game teams will participate in the Stove exhibition hall.
SmileGate plans to hold the Burning Beaver Festival every year to further increase support for Korean indie game developers. For Korean indie game developers and creators, SmileGate must be a very clear and powerful supporter of fostering creativity and a spirit of challenge.
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Jack Lee wangjb77@gmail.com
