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| Officials of Naver Business Platform, a cloud subsidiary of the nation's largest portal operator, prepare to greet visitors to their booth at G-Star 2018 in Busan, Thursday. / Courtesy of Naver Business Platform |
By Jun Ji-hye
BUSAN ― The G-Star global gaming convention has become a battlefield for both domestic and foreign cloud service providers looking to attract game companies as their clients.
At the annual event, which kicked off on Thursday for a four-day run in Busan, domestic firms such as Naver, NHN Entertainment and SK C&C, as well as global IT firms such as Google, Microsoft and Tencent, set up their booths at the BTB hall to promote their cloud platforms and services.
The participation of an increasing number of cloud service providers in the game exhibition comes as not only large game firms but also small- and medium-sized game developers have been showing growing interest in cloud computing services and moving to utilize them in game services.
Cloud services are capable of providing game firms with an environment that facilitates diverse functions needed for games, boosting efficiency in maintenance and control.
Naver Business Platform, a cloud subsidiary of the nation's largest portal operator, introduced Naver Cloud Platform products to game companies.
The Korean firm said its platform helps game firms launch overseas services more smoothly, offering stable infrastructure and the same world-recognized security technology safeguarding Naver.
The storage of the platform allows game companies to manage data conventionally through the web without concerns over capacity management even in case of data increase, it said.
The firm also showcased "GAMEPOT," which offers a tool to help develop high-quality apps and games, saying it will help increase game players and raise profits.
"A number of game companies are targeting the global market, but traditional infrastructure had some limits in accessibility and availability," said Nam Yong-hyun, a manager of Naver Business Platform. "The biggest benefit of cloud services is offering infrastructure easily accessible to any users around the world."
He added that cloud service is capable of automatically extending servers when many users access a game simultaneously.
Chinese internet giant Tencent also showcased its cloud services as well as gaming and social platform linkages at G-Star.
"We are keen to connect with our friends in the gaming industry and to demonstrate how our experience in the space has helped make Tencent Cloud the solution of choice for game developers and publishers," said John Dao, vice president of Tencent Cloud, during the conference held in Busan on the eve of the game exhibition.
Tencent Cloud products support "the whole lifecycle of game development and operation as well as their rapid development of international business," the firms said.
For its part, Microsoft Korea shared its knowhow in operating its cloud platform, Azure-based service and business optimized for games.
