The Hongdae Mobile Arcade — Changing the Gaming Landscape?
Located in one of the most popular locations in Seoul has opened recently, the Hongdae Mobile Arcade is a new store looking to change the marketing landscape of mobile games. This store is unusual because it is not your typical arcade with the games and gaming machines you are used to. The company Gavrint, founded in 2015, are the owners of the store, and have released around 70 indie games in different markets around the world. These games are doing well in Vietnam and some other countries, but distributing and marketing games around the world has been difficult for them.
The Local Mobile Arcade (동네 모바일 오락실) is a new platform to help overcome the marketing issues many indie gaming companies have been having. Inside the store, a few tablets and iPads have been set up with the indie game of the week to play as a demo. Visitors can play these games and try out the levels, and if they enjoy the game and wish to purchase the game, they will be given a code to download the game using the store’s App.
In terms of style, the store has been decorated to make any geek or gaming fanatic happy with hundreds of vintage gaming items and posters. There are also arcade cabinets on sale for mobile gamers to play on, and a lot of other memorabilia items on show and on sale.
There are also a lot of boxes on display which are in the shape of Rubix Cubes. These boxes have a game displayed alongside the associated code, so if you are interested in the particular game, take the box to the shop keeper for purchase and you will receive a code to unlock the particular game.
One of the advantages of this business model is the visibility given to many indie games. In a world where 100s of games are released every day on the App Store and indie games are quickly buried in lists of new releases, this new business model can help both people find a new game to play and developers to get their game known.
The other objective of the store is helping international games enter the local gaming market. In this case, over 20 games from Chinese developers have been on display in the Korean store to help them enter the Korean market, and a few games from Vietnamese developers and Japanese companies have also been on display. The owners of the store hope to expand the store locations all around the world, to help Korean developers enter international markets as well. It sounds like a promising idea.
If you would like to visit the store, follow the map below and look for the following sign. The store is located near Hongik University Station exit 6, and is located downstairs in a bright basement.
