Visiting Naver, Smilegate, and Backnd Office in Korea
Last month, I flew to Seoul to attend the Xbox Devs Day event. I’ll post a separate article about Xbox Devs Day later, but I intentionally arrived early in Korea so I could visit some friends in Seoul. This is why I always emphasize that when attending international events like Gamescom or GDC, our mindset shouldn’t just be about transactionally seeking deals but also about expanding our global network of friends. That way, whenever we visit a country, we have friends to hang out with.
So, on that Wednesday, I had a full schedule planned to visit friends in Korea. I had informed them well in advance that I would be coming to Korea for the Xbox event and wanted to catch up while I was there. And since I was traveling with Damas from Glory Jam in Korea, I decided to drag him along to tour Korea. We landed in Incheon at 7 AM, and after that, we immediately started our visits.
Zepeto/Naver
My first stop was Zepeto’s office, part of the Naver group. There, I met Sehin. I first met Sehin at GDC 2023 last year. I remember being invited to a Korean restaurant dinner and getting a construction helmet as a merch gift. Hahaha, that was the most memorable merch I’ve ever received. GDC is in March, and in October, I invited Sehin to Bali for IGDX.
Anyway, Naver’s office is located in an area filled with tech and game companies. It’s like the Silicon Valley of Gyeonggi-do. At Naver’s office, there’s not only Zepeto, which focuses on creating Metaverse experiences like Roblox, but also Naver Cloud, Webtoon, Snow, and others. The most tempting part is that there’s a Line merch store right at the entrance with cute items. And if you shop with Sehin, you get a 40% discount. Hahaha.
We had a casual chat in the cafeteria. One topic I had asked Sehin about well in advance was the regulations and government support for the game industry in Korea. Initially, Sehin wanted to introduce me to a game studio that had received government support in that area. But due to some reasons, it didn’t happen. After chatting, we took a short tour, and then I had to head to the next meeting.
Smilegate/Stove
The plan to visit Smilegate was a combo of two accidental meetings. During GDC 2024, I was waiting for a publisher meeting in the Marriott hotel lobby. Suddenly, I saw Owen and Miji from Backnd (which we’ll visit later) meeting someone too. I waved hi from a distance, and they were meeting someone not far from where I was sitting. Then, midway, Owen came over and said he wanted to introduce me to the person they were meeting. It turned out to be a director at Smilegate developing Stove. Stove is like Steam but big in Korea. They’re expanding, and because Owen knew I was developing a PC game, he thought it would be a good fit. Daniel is based in the US, but most of the Stove team is in Korea. Since Stove is expanding, Daniel helps out.
Long story short, I told Daniel I planned to visit Korea. Coincidentally, our schedules matched, so we set up a meeting with the Stove team. The morning meeting with Zepeto was more casual, but this one was a bit more serious, held in a meeting room. Interestingly, I also met the Stove team who had coordinated with AGI several times. We discussed many things. One interesting aspect was that Stove has a free localization program for Korean language. If anyone wants to publish their game beyond Steam, they can reach out, especially if targeting the Korean market.
Backnd
Lastly, we visited Backnd’s office. I got to know Backnd from Gamescom 2023. I arrived early for Devcom, and through the Gamescom app, there was a meeting request. Initially, I thought it was just another service provider trying to sell something. Back then, I declined meetings with those who wanted to “sell,” preferring to meet only with publishers. But over time, I’ve become more open to expanding my network of friends, so if I had free time, why not. We had a great chat at Devcom, and we connected well. After that, we had dinner together, and as usual, I dragged them to IGDX :p
With Backnd, we just had a casual chat. The plan was just to see their office and then have dinner. While Zepeto and Stove had a very corporate vibe, Backnd felt more relevant to me because it still had an indie vibe. Backnd focuses on providing backend features like login, leaderboard, multiplayer, etc. They are big in Korea because most Korean games have online features. Now they’re expanding internationally, which is why they attend international events.
Backnd treated us to a sushi restaurant. Wow, the sushi was super fresh. Dangerous! It made sushi in Indonesia taste bland. Hahaha. But yeah, we just had a relaxed chat and hung out there. After dinner, we even moved to a café for coffee.
So, that’s pretty much my casual networking moments with partners and friends in Korea before the Xbox Devs Day event. Next, I’ll share what the Xbox Devs Day event was like :) Stay tuned!
