Hello, everyone! Today, Channel Netmarble wants to introduce you to Netmarble Joybomb, the Taiwan quarter of Netmarble. Joybomb is well known for its proficient localized service of various Netmarble games throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.  Mr. Edwin Lin, the General Manager, gratefully participated in the interview! 

#1. Thank you for your time today, Mr. Lin! It's been quite a long time meeting you on Channel Netmarble. (Former interview was in 2017, along with Lineage 2 Revolution Grand Launch) Some audiences are not familiar with Netmarble Joybomb. Could you briefly introduce Joybomb and yourself?

Joybomb was established in 2012, with an early entry advantage for mobile gaming operations dedicated to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. We have launched many successful titles with long-lasting PLC in a very competitive market with the best-talented team. I joined the gaming industry in the era of PC online games, which is the year 2002. My role as a business developer and project management. I've worked in Korea, China, and Taiwan gaming companies through the last two decades.

#2. Please proudly comment on Netmarble and Joybomb's impact power in Taiwan. (How people love Netmarble, Joybomb's special activities to empower the Netmarble brand in Taiwan, Korean game's power in the Taiwanese game industry, and more.)

Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau have always been matured gaming markets; players are rich in gaming experiences. In the past years, with GOB games launched, Netmarble games have been well accepted and established a "High-quality gaming" impression.

Joybomb has been a subsidiary of Netmarble in Taiwan, has a fully operational team and experience with local know-how.

Cooperating with HQ GOB game launches with detailed localization in-game content, advertisement assets, 24-7 local customer services creates a strong synergy to ensure the success of the game launch and long-lasting PLC.

#3. Since Netmarble Joybomb supports HQ's game about marketing, QA, and customer service throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, there might be some difficulties to satisfy all the users with similar but different cultural backgrounds. Are there any distinctive traits that users from each region have? Do you have different strategies for the users?

Although Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau are all using traditional Chinese, there are differences in the market environment, cultures, and player behaviors.

For the market environment, in Taiwan, we often have cross-collaboration with soft drinks, snacks, instant noodles, etc., but this rarely happens in Hong Kong as the merchant thought it's not worth doing.

Player's behavior is different as GDP is higher in Hong Kong and Macau. They would have higher ARPU and longer loyalty to the game, especially if it's an IP-based game.

To service and satisfy all players across the region is a challenge. Providing localization at a perfect level is a must. Hosting offline events according to local holidays/festivals would be a great way to interact with players. It will directly affect PLC.

#4. The achievements show the seamless cooperation between Netmarble HQ and Joybomb. Please share the core elements of it.

Throughout the past five years, HQ & Joybomb GOB team worked closely together to perfect our GOB services in all aspects.

The strong willingness to learn from each other is the crucial motivation for both team members, and the sensation of sharing success is priceless.

#5. Korean MMORPGs, for example - Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds, seem to be very popular among Asian users, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Can you give us some insights regarding the phenomena? (Please tell us about Taiwan/Hongkong/Macau region game market insights along with Netmarble MMORPG power in the regions)

For most Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau players, their first online game experiences were MMORPG around 1999, such as Lineage and KOK on PC.

MMORPG has always been one of the favorite genre players, so when we launched Lineage II: Revolution in 2017, it was revolutionary! 

Players could not believe the quality and the depth of it on a mobile device. 

Lineage II: Revolution dominated the traditional Chinese market for years. Following the success, the launch of Ni No Kuni: Cross World is another milestone for Netmarble to establish its brand name as the industry leader of MMORPG game development and operation.

Netmarble's brand name is now well-known among the players in the regional market for MMORPG.

Taiwan and Hong Kong players share one thing in common: enthusiasm for animation IP, Ni No Kuni: Cross World captured both MMORPG and animation groups of players, even with other new MMORPG launched in the market, the performance is still stable, not affected.

Adding to the powerful MMORPGs, Netmarble's various games, such as Blade & Soul Revolution, are all very much loved by Taiwan and Hong Kong players.

#6. Also, Netmarble's representative sports game (baseball game), MaguMagu, is still beloved by Taiwanese gamers. Do you see any reason why? (Please proudly tell us about Joybomb's publishing, servicing strategies to keep PLCs)

MaguMagu PC was launched in 2007 in the Taiwan market with considerable success and has dominated baseball PC online gaming for years. The MaguMagu series has already been acknowledged as an IP in Taiwan. If you ask a player to relate gaming and baseball, the answer can only be MaguMagu.

Joybomb entered mobile gaming in 2012 with MaguMagu mobile, creating a phenomenon of mobile gaming occupying the market lead by Joybomb, with no competitor to compete. And the latest version of MaguMagu: PRO published by Joybomb in 2020, with full support from HQ and developers to optimize contents and well prepared, we were able to say it was another success for the MaguMagu series in Taiwan.

As mentioned above, MaguMagu series has 15 years of history in the Taiwan market; it has grown with many baseball fans through their teen ages. It meant more than just a game to the players. They are strongly emotionally attached.

We held many offline events for MaguMagu series throughout the three sequels.

There are two events I'd like to share two events: the first one is the "End game tournaments" for MaguMagu2, the second is the "Preview of MaguMagu: PRO."

"End game tournament" was held in 2018 July, when we knew we had no choice, needed to terminate MaguMagu2's services. We held an event to invite the top-ranking players in the game, and the opinion leaders amount players. The event went smoothly. We promised we would be back with a better version of the MaguMagu.

In 2020, MaguMagu: PRO was ready to launch. We invited those who attended the "End game tournament" to the event, giving a first-hand preview of MaguMagu: PRO and hearing their feedback to do final optimization before launching.

These two events tell the players how much we value their passion and support and build emotional engagements that affect all the players who once played and loved the MaguMagu series.

This is one of the essential elements to ensure a long-lasting PLC.

 

#7. The long-awaited sequel of Seven Knights, the Seven Knights 2, is finally launched! Is Joybomb planning something special? Will the title continue the Seven Knights original title's popularity?

We are very excited about the launching of the new sequel of Seven Knights!

Pre-launching warm-ups have been planned by the HQ marketing team and Joybomb members to make sure Seven Knights fans will be even more excited.

With the recent event being executed and watching how fans interact during the live streaming chat room, along with the high-quality game development by Netmarble as always, I'm confident the Seven Knights 2 will undoubtedly be successful in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau market, again.

#8. Last comments for Ch. Netmarble readers!

Welcome to the world of Netmarble.

Let’s enjoy the most interesting and immersive mobile game with the high-quality together!