In recent years, the influence of Chinese games in the Korean market has been expanding, and it has gradually become an important competitive force in the Korean game industry. According to the latest data, the top three Google Play revenue charts in South Korea are all occupied by Chinese games. This phenomenon not only reflects the high quality and innovation of Chinese games, but also reveals that the competitive landscape of the Korean game market is undergoing profound changes.

As of February 19, 2025, the top three Google Play revenue charts in South Korea are:

Last War: Survival: A hyper-casual strategy game developed by First Fun, it was ranked 255th in the early days and has climbed to No. 1 with a daily revenue of about 1 billion won. The game successfully drove revenue growth by targeting its core user base, and its marketing expenses and revenue showed a trend of rising in tandem.

WOS: Whiteout Survival: A strategy game developed by Century Games with clan warfare at its core and a variety of paid items.

I9: Inferno Nine: An MMORPG game developed by LENIU Games, launching on January 16, 2025. In the early stage of the game's promotion, a large-scale marketing campaign was launched by giving away high-end mobile phones.

In the top 9, only local games in South Korea are NCSoft's Lineage M, Kakao Games' Odin: Rebel, and Devsisters' Biscuit Runner: Kingdom, while overseas games are as many as six, twice as many as domestic Korean games.

Reflections and responses to the Korean game industry

However, Chinese games also face some challenges in the Korean market. For example, the South Korean government has recently tightened its regulation of overseas games, and even issued rectification orders for Chinese game companies. In addition, local Korean game companies are also actively adjusting their strategies to try to cope with the competition of Chinese games through innovation and localized operations.

In the face of the strong rise of Chinese games, the Korean game industry has begun to reflect on its own shortcomings. Korean media pointed out that Korean game companies rely too much on traditional IP and short-term performance, and lack long-term R&D investment and innovative spirit. Industry insiders have called on the Korean game industry to increase R&D investment and improve the development system to cope with the competitive pressure of Chinese games.

Overall, the success of Chinese games in the Korean market has not only brought new vitality to the global game market, but also prompted the Korean game industry to re-examine its own positioning and development direction. In the future, the competition and cooperation between the game industry between China and South Korea will become closer, and the Korean market will continue to be one of the important overseas markets for Chinese game companies.

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