Here is my first blog post, Surviving in US for the last 7 years. It’s too early to say that Com2us succeeded in US market but we definitely ‘survived’ in fast-changing mobile game industry. Looking back my 7 years, there are 7 ‘surviving’ factors that were critical.

1. Early entrance to App Store

Com2uS’ first smartphone game, Chronicles of Inotia was released in Dec 2008. We were one of the first Korean companies who developed smartphone games when the App Store was opened in July 2008. There were mixed evaluation on Apple’s attempt to develop smartphone and to change the existing ecosystem of mobile contents, which was controlled by the mobile carriers such as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. However the management team was bold enough to try out a new opportunity in smartphone market.

Since most of the Com2uS’ revenue was from feature phone games market in Korea, investing in a new smartphone game market in US was not an easy decision. Also it was difficult to find a willing development team who would start a game project on an unidentified development platform. From development team’s perspective, smartphone platform was new from the content designing stage because the smartphone UI was totally different from the feature phone’s limited screen size and keypad input system. Nevertheless, sensing the business opportunity during the transition of mobile platform from feature phone to smartphobe, we quickly formed a task force team to convert an existing feature phone game to smartphone version to enter the new market as soon as possible.

2. Targeted for core gamer user group

First game was Role Playing Game(RPG) which was targeted to core gamers who are mostly overlapped with early adopters of iPhone. At a premium $7.99 price point Chronicles of Inotia game was No. 1 in Role Playing category in App Store.

It was a good decision to release hard core game rather than casual game in the early period of smartphone because the users of smartphones in 2008 were mostly early adopters, who overlapped with same audience. Also we could take advantage of Korean mobile gaming market experience to bring most advanced mobile game to smartphone whereas the competitors were developing a simple arcade games. Developing a RPG is much more complex process than developing an arcade game in general and we were ahead of the curve against other gaming companies.

Building a gaming community around RPG users was a good foundation to develop core fans to Com2us and help us grow our user base to other genres such as sports, arcade, puzzle and etc. With successful sequels of the Chronicles of Inotia, we were able to increase the user base to cross promote to other new games such as Homerun Battle 3D and Slice It!.

3. Hit game with innovative gameplay

Homerun Battle 3D was the hit game in 2009 with all the innovative game features including cross-platform online multiplayer, meaning iPhone users could play the game with Android users. It had all the element of fun smartphone game with unique gameplay of hitting home run. Game was optimized with smartphone’s functionality such as Touch Control using accelerometer, Multiplayer with online Chatting using online mobile network, and Character Customization including digital version of Wilson DeMarini baseball bat.

Homerun Battle 3D was an existing game for feature phone environment in Korea but we changed UI and graphics to be optimized for smartphone reusing the existing infrastructure of online matchup game server. It had the right combination of a hit game’s element with advanced technology in smartphone environment. Especially, we supported cross platform gameplay where users from different platforms can play with each other and Homerun Battle was one of the first game that can do such gameplay.

Another hit game from Com2uS in 2010 was Slice It! which ranked as high as Top Paid 2 in US. It was an simple geometrical puzzle game which you slice the shapes into equal area (not shape!). It was a winner in the company’s internal idea contest and the developer quickly turned the idea into actual project hitting all time record among Com2us’ games.

4. Partnership with Platforms

Com2uS maintained very close relationship with the Platforms including Apple and Google who manages the App Store and Google Play(formerly Android Market). We invested a lot of time and resources to maintain such relationship by supporting new version of OS, new devices, and new functionalities such as in-app purchase system. We were one of the preferred partners or beta testing developers to receive access to new devices and technology, which then helped us to get more promotion when the new devices hit the market.

Continued updates on existing game polished the gameplay to a level that Apple promoted one of our games, Homerun Battle 3D in their Apple retail store and promoted in TV commercial, iPod touch 3rd generation. Promotion by the Platform including Featured Menu, Seasonal menu and many other marketing vehicles pushed our game brand to users in extensive manner.

Another key partnership was with the hardware platforms or device manufacturers including Samsung and Sony. Not only did we receive early access to new device for testing but also an opportunity to showcase the games during various tradeshows such as CES(Consumer Electronic Show) and MWC(Mobile World Congress). Thanks to our business partnership, we could enhance Com2uS brand as well as the game brand in gaming industry and to users.

5. Building relationship with PR media

In early days of smartphone games, they were mostly paid version starting from $0.99 and it was very important for the media and professional reviewers to recommend the app for the users to purchase. Building a good relationship with the PR media was crucial to game user communities to be recommended and it extended virally through word of mouth.

Also speaking at various game industry events such as GDC(Game Developer Conference) was very effective raising the public profile of Com2uS in US market, not to mention many business opportunities with new partners. One of the key partners we met after the GDC talk was Disney Interactive Studios and it led to a co-production project using Disney/Pixar characters in Com2us games and publishing through Disney in US market. (see article here)

6. Competitive in-house game studios

Successful games could only be produced by good teamwork of game design, development and QA. Com2uS had been in the mobile gaming industry for such a long time having multiple in-house game studios. Great game producers are not hired but organically grown internally after many attempts of failed projects. We had a large pool of talented people with full support from the management not to fear any failure but to try out new games with trials and errors.

Most of the ‘Star’ game producers have a track record of failed projects in their closet and they are only recognized by the hit game in the market. Management would always give them a second or third chance to prove the team’s vision of making a fun game and as the ground after rain hardens, their team work always paid off in the end. Good example of success is the Tiny Farm which was one of the most successful mobile games in Com2uS history was led by the creative director who had multiple failed projects in over 10 years.

7. Long term investment from the Management and Right Advisor

Since 2002, Com2uS wanted to go global and established liaison offices in many countries including UK, US, Japan and China. US was a new market to enter with unidentified risk but the management team took a long term investment approach starting with a one-man office in US to develop business opportunities. Instead of acquiring any existing teams or game studios, Com2uS took very gradual approach to develop business from ground up, which could only be done with a strong support and commitment from the management team from Korea.

But when the mobile gaming market was changed to Open Market with visible business opportunity, Com2uS was one of the first to penetrate the new market with full speed having all the accumulated experience and relationship with the business partners and PR media. Based on the trials and errors in the US market and establishing right partnership, we could drive the business to right direction with proven-to-succeed games.

When Com2uS decided to start a business in US, it was important to find a right advisor to make good decisions at crucial moments. Access to different industries’ key contacts were a great stepping stones for a Korean company who had no presence in US market and continued trust and support helped the company take any risk in the market and succeed in the long run.

Unlike the short-termed investors to find a opportunistic timing to exit, Storm Ventures was consistent and supportive throughout their investing period until now. Advising both the management and the US team, Com2uS was able to develop a clear vision where the company was going and how we can achieve the goal together.