Settings

ⓕ font-size

  • -2
  • -1
  • 0
  • +1
  • +2

'Black Desert Mobile' wins grand prize at Korea Game Awards

  • Facebook share button
  • Twitter share button
  • Kakao share button
  • Mail share button
  • Link share button
Ji Hui-hwan, a chief technology officer at Pearl Abyss, speaks after the firm's
Ji Hui-hwan, a chief technology officer at Pearl Abyss, speaks after the firm's "Black Desert Mobile" won the grand prize at the 2018 Korea Game Awards held at the Centum City branch of Shinsegae Department Store in Busan, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Pearl Abyss

By Jun Ji-hye

BUSAN ― "Black Desert Mobile" developed by Pearl Abyss won the grand prize at the 2018 Korea Game Awards, Wednesday, in recognition of taking mobile multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) to a higher level.

The mobile version of the Korean game firm's popular MMORPG, "Black Desert," also swept five additional awards, including the best developer and the most popular game, proving that mobile games have been more popular than online PC games this year.

The nation's top game awards took place in the southeastern port city of Busan on the eve of the opening of the global G-Star 2018 game exhibition.

"We owe the grand prize to users around the world who love Black Desert," said Ji Hui-hwan, chief technology officer at Pearl Abyss, after the game was announced as a grand prize winner. "We will continue to work hard to develop games that are loved by users."

Pearl Abyss has made notable results on the back of the popularity of "Black Desert Mobile," released in February, reporting a record-breaking quarterly performance in the third quarter after it did so in the second.

According to its July-September earnings report, its sales and operating profit stood at a respective 117 billion won ($103 million) and 60.3 billion won, up by 323.8 percent and 297.2 percent from a year ago.

Although the online game was on a downward trend during the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, its mobile version led the firm's growth as sales at the mobile division were tallied at 89.7 billion won.

The great performance of the company stands out compared to other bigger game firms that have seen downward curves in their profits due to delays in releasing new games.

Since the mobile game was released, Pearl Abyss has created consistent updates, offering abundant content to users.

Pearl Abyss has also been speeding up the release of its mobile game overseas, hoping for the game to lift its sales further, following success in the domestic market.

The firm began the service of "Black Desert Mobile" in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, Aug. 29. The mobile game will be released in Japan, the United States and Europe next year.



Jun Ji-hye jjh@koreatimes.co.kr


X
CLOSE

Top 10 Stories

go top LETTER