Hello, this is Realworld. Welcome to the 'Can This Really Work?' series, which brings you 'all the fun in this world!' Today we're back with the second episode on the topic 'There's a content market 10 times bigger than webtoons?'
Joining UniqueGood's adorable MC Yuhyeon and experience trend expert Storm (CEO Song Inhyuk of UniqueGood Company), we have a special guest today - Team Leader Baek Jeonghyeon from the New Business Planning & Development Team. Let's give him a round of applause! 👏👏
Let's dive into today's fun and informative trend updates!
The Rise of the Role-Playing Market
I'm sure many of our subscribers have played 'Mafia games' before. The role-playing market, where multiple participants take on different roles to play games or perform like theater, is steadily growing. It's already formed a market worth 10 trillion won, which is 10 times the size of the webtoon and web novel markets.
Some of you might be thinking, 'Why would anyone pay money to play Mafia games?' But it's not that simple. The role-playing games trending recently borrow the mechanics of Mafia games but are wrapped in compelling narratives. In other words, you get to experience being a character in a mystery or detective novel.
The role-playing market is already growing abroad as well. In Korea, Realworld's 'Realworld Clue' style online role-playing games are popular! In China, there are over 45,000 venues for 'Jubensha (劇本殺)' - role-playing games where participants act as characters from scenarios while trying to catch the culprit. In Japan, it has evolved into 'Murder Mystery' format, where the main goal isn't just finding the culprit but uncovering the truth behind incidents. In the US and Europe, it appears as LARP (Live Action Role Playing), where participants physically act out their characters.
Let's pause here and hear from our guest, Team Leader Baek Jeonghyeon. As UniqueGood's official Murder Mystery enthusiast, Team Leader Baek added some insights about Jubensha. In China, players actually move around department stores to play Jubensha with the store as their backdrop, or even play in towns where they interact with NPCs. Sometimes you can get clues by saying specific phrases to certain characters - it must feel like you've stepped into a real case.
Need for Creator Revenue Models
Why is Korea's role-playing market relatively smaller compared to neighboring countries like China and Japan? Storm (CEO Song Inhyuk of UniqueGood Company) pointed to several reasons, particularly the limited ways for creators to generate revenue. Even in China's Jubensha market, the online version that relies on advertising isn't that large - the bigger market comes from publishing scenarios as physical products and distributing them offline.
However, Korea definitely has a publishing market called 'Chu-Miss (Mystery, Thriller)' with a solid fanbase. We expect this mystery novel market to transition into the role-playing market. Once people realize this market is profitable, many creators will flock to it. That's why Realworld is making plans for this transition.
Realworld's Plans
Realworld is planning a structure that can strengthen creator revenue models by turning scenarios into kits or board games for distribution. We're also planning to enhance community features for finding party members to lower the barrier of multiplayer gaming. Through Realworld's flagship store 'Realworld Seongsu,' we aim to realize our grand vision of distributing 'Murder Mystery' games and other mystery content.
According to Realworld's plans, 'Realworld Clue Seongsu,' a space dedicated to 'Murder Mystery,' opened on February 5, 2024. Please check the link at the bottom of this post for more details. All mystery and thriller content lovers, please visit us in Seongsu!
Realworld's 'Can This Really Work?' will return with even more fun and informative topics!
Thank you.
▼ Check out the full version of [Can This Really Work? EP2] in the video below. ▼
▼ Click the link below to go to the 'Realworld Clue' introduction page.