Nexon Games launches subculture video game Blue Archive in China

Blue Archive key visual in Chinese. [Courtesy of Nexon Games]

South Korean game major Nexon Games Co. will officially launch the service of “Blue Archive,” a key intellectual property (IP), in China on Thursday.

According to industry sources on Wednesday, Blue Archive started its pre-download services in the Chinese market at noon that day and immediately rose to the top spot for downloads and reservations on major application market platforms such as TapTap and Bilibili.

Popular games are usually supported for pre-download to allow users to download the game in advance to avoid traffic congestion on the release day. Blue Archive has already amassed over 4.19 million reservations in China since March.

Blue Archive is a subculture video game that has achieved success in Korea and Japan. It is now targeting China, where subculture video games are also popular.

The gaming industry anticipates the success of Blue Archive in China. If it draws much attention, it would be the first case of a Korean mobile game having mega-hits since the easing of China’s restrictions on hallyu, or Korean cultural content, last year.

Although the Chinese government granted game service permits for Korean games in June 2021 after more than one year, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)-focused Korean games failed to capture the changed preferences of Chinese gamers.

Subculture video games like Blue Archive have been gaining popularity in China. MMORPG games, which still dominate the Korean market, account for only 3 percent in China.

In particular, more than 60 percent of the most popular collectible role-playing games (RPGs) fall under the subculture video game category.

The subculture game “Genshin Impact” by China’s leading game maker Mihoyo Co., which was released in September 2020, is known to have generated over 7 trillion won ($5.4 billion) in global cumulative revenue.

Subculture games refer to video games that create a world using Japanese animation-style girl characters. Marketing for these games are easier than other games thanks to fandom, and their average revenue per user (ARPU) is higher compared to other mobile games, enabling game companies to generate significant revenue.

This is why game publishers from Korea, China, and Japan are competitively releasing subculture games.

Blue Archive has also become a sensation in Japan. After completing its 2.5-year update on July 24, it has continued its success by topping the real-time sales rankings in both major markets.

Nexon Games is already working on the development of new subculture games.

According to information obtained by Maeil Business Newspaper, Nexon Games has launched a new task force and is currently in the process of recruiting staff. The taskforce team is currently in the stage of exploring the direction of game development before officially launching the project.

Kim Yong-ha, executive producer for Blue Archive, is known to be in charge of the taskforce team.