Korean game companies expand operations in the Vietnamese market

Major Korean game companies such as Nexon and NCSoft are actively connecting with Southeast Asian businesses by establishing subsidiaries or joint ventures in countries, including Vietnam.

South Korean gaming industry said on April 1 that in 2024, NCSoft will establish a joint venture company "NCV Games" with "VNGGames," a subsidiary of Vietnamese information technology company VNG.

Through this joint venture, NCSoft plans to launch the hit game "Lineage2M" in six Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines on May 20.

This game was previously introduced by the company in the domestic market in 2019. Previously, the company has launched mobile games in Southeast Asia, but this is the first time NCSoft has established a joint venture to provide services in the home country.

VNGGames is a leading game company in Vietnam, rapidly expanding into the Southeast Asian and Chinese markets. The company has also been chosen by many Korean game companies such as Line Games or Devsisters as a distribution or game publishing partner.

Meanwhile, Nexon is also actively recruiting elite development personnel in the Vietnam region through its gaming service subsidiary "Nexon Networks."

Nexon Networks established "Nexon Dev Vina" (NDVN) in Vietnam in 2022, recently increased the number of employees to 90, and strengthened cooperation with domestic developers, including Nexon Korea.

Since the end of 2024, the Korean Game Culture Foundation has worked with the Korean Embassy in Vietnam to organize "Korean Game Week," with many cultural exchange programs to develop the game industry and culture of the two countries.

In the second event held this year, game companies such as NCSoft, Nexon Korea, NHN, and Pearl Abyss are joining the list of sponsors for "Game Week."

The reason why Korean game companies pay attention to the Vietnamese market is because of its huge potential and cheap labor costs.

According to the 2022 report of international market research company Newzoo, the population of gamers in Vietnam is about 54.6 million people, accounting for half of the total population of nearly 100 million people.

In particular, game companies pay close attention to the fact that labor costs for developers in Vietnam are lower than in Korea. The salary for a new developer at a game company in Vietnam is around 7-12 million won (4,750-8,150 USD) a year.

According to Job Planet's 2023 data, the average annual income of a game developer in South Korea is about 36 million won ($24,460). The starting salary for game developers at large companies is about 50 million won ($33,972).

A representative of a game business said that Vietnam's overall development capacity is high, so not only large businesses but also small and medium-sized game businesses are increasing outsourcing in Vietnam./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/cac-cong-ty-game-han-quoc-mo-rong-hoat-dong-tai-thi-truong-viet-nam-post1024244.vnp