In this blog post, we will take a look at how KakaoTalk, which started out as a messenger app, evolved into a gaming platform.
Recently, a Kakao Talk-based game called Anipang has been popular in Korea. Anipang is a simple puzzle game that anyone can easily play, and many people have been enthusiastic about it. As a result, games like Candy Pang, which is similar to Anipang, have started to become popular. These suddenly popular games have caused various problems and may cause more problems. We will now look at these problems.
First, let’s take a look at the history of KakaoTalk games. Before Anipang, KakaoTalk was a pure messenger with no games. Since it was a free application, KakaoTalk needed an industry other than messenger to make money. So, one day, Plus Friend was created, which allowed people to add friends for the purpose of advertising and promotion, such as entertainment agencies and companies. Until then, KakaoTalk had been simply fulfilling its role as a messenger. However, the story changed after the game Anipang was released. As Anipang became popular and KakaoTalk games such as Candy Pang and Dragon Flight began to increase, KakaoTalk went through a process of becoming not just a messenger, but another mobile world like smartphones and Facebook. Although KakaoTalk games have only been around for a short time, no one knows what other services will be added to the “medium” of KakaoTalk in the future.
Let’s take Anipang, one of KakaoTalk’s games, as an example. Anipang is a simple game that anyone can play, regardless of age or gender, but most people in South Korea are currently playing Anipang and exchanging hearts. According to one statistic, more than 100 million hearts are exchanged per day. First of all, I would like to say that these hearts are the problem. When you send a heart in Anipang, you will receive a notification that you have sent a heart via KakaoTalk. However, if you send or receive a lot of hearts, these notifications will also become frequent, which can be distracting when you are not playing the game or when you are not able to play the game. Also, hearts are a symbol with many conventional meanings. I don’t know how it is for couples or close friends, but it may be perceived differently by married people or those who are about to get married. In recent articles, I have seen cases where people were suspected of having an affair because of these hearts and even went to divorce, or were confused by a heart from an ex-lover. Of course, more than two months have passed since the game Anipang was released, and now people don’t take sending hearts in Anipang seriously. In addition, the heart-shaped text messages that used to come at random could be blocked by going into the settings, but they were patched so that they could be blocked without going into the settings. Even with this patch, the default setting is to send hearts, so if you don’t want to send such messages, you have to set it separately anyway. I think it would be better to prevent messages from coming in the first place and only display them when you want to. Considering that things like agreeing to terms and conditions on the Internet are also considered as consent if the other party passes them by without thinking, I think that Anipang and other games should also take this into account.
The success of Kakao Talk games has not only increased the number of users, but also played a major role in increasing user engagement. Competitions with friends, ranking comparisons, and various events have kept users immersed in the game. However, these elements sometimes cause conflict among users. For example, users who are left behind in the competition for rankings may become stressed, and conflicts may arise over in-game purchases. Therefore, it is important for game developers to create an environment where users can enjoy the game while also competing in a healthy way.
One of the concerns with KakaoTalk right now is that KakaoTalk-based games are quite uniform. For example, Anipang, an internal game of KakaoTalk, has the heart system mentioned above. This heart is one of the fatigue systems that limits the game time. There was a lot of talk about this heart at one time, but it has become much less common now. However, since Anipang, Candy Pang and other games of the “팡” series have all had a system where players can give and receive hearts. You can give and receive something else instead of hearts, but the only difference is the timing of the hearts’ regeneration, and the hearts themselves are the same. Also, after Candy Fangs surpassed the market share of Anipang, the format of the game, which references the item system and coin system that Anipang had in the original Candy Fangs, is slightly different, but there are situations where it is difficult to tell which app is different. If similar games are not regulated or restricted, or if there is no minimum management, there is a high risk that people will leave the KakaoTalk messenger due to the ads and hearts from similar games. Unlike Apple’s App Store, the Android Market does not regulate applications. There is a lot of talk about this, too. Even though these apps that go into KakaoTalk add-ons are allowed to go into the Android Market without any restrictions, I think it is more beneficial for users of the apps to be reviewed by KakaoTalk because they are KakaoTalk add-ons.
KakaoTalk games are different from other game applications provided by the Android Market, one of which is the integration with KakaoTalk. It may sound like a pun, but the reason for welcoming KakaoTalk in the first place was that it was lighter than the mobile version of Nateon or other messenger applications, so it was popular. However, if Kakao Talk-based applications such as Anipang and Candy Pang are added one after another, Kakao Talk will gradually lose its light-hearted nature. Although it is an unavoidable choice for Kakao Talk to generate revenue from advertisements and these games, no one knows when or where an application that competes with Kakao Talk will appear because anyone can easily create a program that functions as a messenger. Although KakaoTalk is currently the No. 1 mobile messenger in Korea, the era is changing rapidly, as seen in the collapse of Cyworld and Twitter, and KakaoTalk should be aware that it needs to provide new and pleasant services in line with the times. In other words, there should be some level of regulation to prevent KakaoTalk from becoming the next Cyworld, as there are not many KakaoTalk games available yet.
The influence of KakaoTalk games is not limited to Korea. The popularity of KakaoTalk games is also growing in the global market, which is contributing to the enhancement of the status of the Korean game industry. However, localization that takes into account cultural differences is essential for success in the global market. By providing game content that reflects the culture and tastes of each country, you can reach more users. For example, the Japanese market requires marketing that uses the Japanese version of the game and characters unique to Japan. On the other hand, game design and promotional strategies that match local trends are important in the US market.
Therefore, KakaoTalk must seek ways to increase user satisfaction along with the growth of the gaming industry. It is important to build an image as a company that fulfills its social responsibilities while providing fun games. To this end, it must actively reflect user feedback and improve its system so that people of all ages can safely enjoy games. It must also come up with various campaigns and programs to address the problem of game addiction and help users enjoy games in a healthy way.
