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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

In an interview with 4Gamer at TGS 2024, the CEO of NEXON Games Yong-hyun Park gave interesting insights into how the company makes judgements about what games to greenlight amidst rising development costs and harsh market conditions. Up until now, Park has led the development of successful titles such as NCSOFT’s Lineage II, Bluehole (now Krafton)’s TERA, and more recently, Blue Archive and The First Descendant.

When asked about how NEXON Games assesses potential games, the process Park describes focuses more on listening to users’ feedback than analyzing market data and calculating forecasts. Part of this is due to a lack of precedent in South Korea’s video game industry. “If it’s an MMORPG, we can roughly imagine how it will perform. However, when it comes to titles like Blue Archive or The First Descendant, neither my company nor I personally have experience making and releasing such games to the market, and even in Korea, these kinds of games have hardly been made up until now.”

Due to this lack of relevant data, NEXON Games tends to “run with projects” without having a defined forecast as to how they may perform, and Park says that this is the case even with games that cost upwards of $70 million to make.

However, it’s not only the lack of data that contributes to this – Park doesn’t trust numbers when it comes to assessing the potential of a game. Although the company does use overseas market data as reference and sets rough estimates, they treat numbers as unreliable and relative, while the “raw voices of users” are absolute, according to the CEO.

“Working backwards based on the profit you want to achieve with your game used to work fine in the past, when production costs were low. But with development costs gradually increasing, errors in the numbers can accumulate, and you can find your game falling apart at release. If you think about it that way, focusing on user feedback is the most reliable method at the moment.”

He goes on to explain that, “we may not know how much money we can make by developing a certain game, but we can get a feeling as to what kind of game will make users happy. That’s why we test games even in the middle of development and collect feedback.”

Park comments that even though this kind of user feedback cannot give the developers clear data about how many downloads, log ins or purchases they can expect, “we can find out whether users would like to play our game and come back to it, and we choose to believe in this and run with it.”

With development costs rising, we need to make games based on user feedback, not numbers and data from the past, says NEXON Games executive - AUTOMATON WEST

NEXON Games CEO Yong-hyun Park talks about the company's policy of prioritizing user feedback over data when greenlighting projects.

automaton-media.com

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

We need more Boobies and Booties using attractive female characters in videogames again

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

We need more Boobies and Booties using attractive female characters in videogames again

Korean and Chinese game devs have that area totally covered!

 

[hemo memo]

Korean and Chinese game devs have that area totally covered!

Or more accurately, revealed.

 

[HL3.exe]

Ok Nexon, dev who releases copycat slop and then erasing them from existence after awhile because they don't receive attention, several times in history.

Having 0 vision and only catering to user feedback sounds like a great recipe for even more generic slop.

 

[Gojiira]

Yeah Nexon are kinda shit though…MTX galore, tons of predatory design decisions, never respect your time.
Yes the booba is great and we need more of that but from others not just Nexon

 

[mitch1971]

Having 0 vision and only catering to user feedback sounds like a great recipe for even more generic slop.

Well from a user perspective on The Decendant they are pretty much on the ball when it comes to user feedback : It's swift changes and positive for the community. Even if the game development ends its possible to say I (we) had a good time while playing, rather than fighting tooth and nail against the developers wishes.

 

[Trilobit]

I honestly want to know what kind of players the Concord developers collected feedback from. And how did they find those players that were perfectly fine with the character designs?

 

[pqueue]

This is how you get boring games that no one wants and how you kill an entire industry.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Ok Nexon, dev who releases copycat slop and then erasing them from existence after awhile because they don't receive attention, several times in history.

Having 0 vision and only catering to user feedback sounds like a great recipe for even more generic slop.

Are you really downplaying users' feedback???

Should they antagonize their fans and listen to consultancy firms and political committees instead?

That's going great for western devs.

 

[Pejo]

As somebody that plays The First Descendant, it's been pretty noticeable that they're doing this, and I think it's a good thing (for live service games obviously, not standalone single player experiences).

They keep trying to add in anti-consumer stuff, we keep complaining about it, and then - here's the important part - they listen and change it in a very quick and responsive way.

You can argue that they're just seeing what they can get away with before dialing it back once the wheels get squeaky, but the end result is a healthy open communication between devs and the playerbase.

Certainly better than just continuing on with stupid shit, ignoring the playerbase, and calling them incels, and telling them not to play the game. That's the kind of masterplan only western devs can stand behind.

 

[Comandr]

Are you really downplaying users' feedback???

Should they antagonize their fans and listen to consultancy firms and political committees instead?

That's going great for western devs.

The problem is things like what people want changes very very fast. They follow user feedback today, and then four years from now when the game is done, people don’t want that anymore.

It’s clear that HL3 is suggesting that they focus more on developing their own unique thing that has its own merit, rather than chase trends or try to pander to a given demographic for whom the market is likely already saturated.

 

[Laptop1991]

Well that's been proved kinda obvious after all the sales disaster's lately, but will the people at the top do it, no sign of that yet, Ubisoft didn't bother to save themselves even though their downfall was staring them right in the face, let's see the better games coming and the higher sales to prove it first.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

We need more Boobies and Booties using attractive female characters in videogames again

Asian devs:

 

[MujkicHaris]

I don't think developers should listen to user feedback. Or numbers and data.

Developers should listen to their creative inner voice and execute on ideas. Video games are creative miracles.

Microsoft Windows and Spotify developers should listen to user feedback. Video games are much more than a product.

 

[hemo memo]

I don't think developers should listen to user feedback. Or numbers and data.

When you don't do that you get Concord.

 

[Rexo]

I don't think developers should listen to user feedback. Or numbers and data.

Developers should listen to their creative inner voice and execute on ideas. Video games are creative miracles.

Microsoft Windows and Spotify developers should listen to user feedback. Video games are much more than a product.

This is what Concord did, and how that turned out?
This is not a painter painting something in his basement, games are a product, companies spend 3, 5 years making them, paying monthly salaries to a lot of people as well other expenses, they for sure need to be aware on how to make money and listen to their possible target audience, creativeness is really important to make a innovative product but not the only thing imo.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I don't think developers should listen to user feedback. Or numbers and data.

Developers should listen to their creative inner voice and execute on ideas. Video games are creative miracles.

I’m sure this is what the developers of Concord did.

 

[Felessan]

Basically Agile in gamedev
Though agile is not for every product (for SP it's hard to get close link between dev and user) and subject to actual implementation, but agile generally does increase speed and quality of the product

 

[Punished Miku]

Having 0 vision and only catering to user feedback sounds like a great recipe for even more generic slop.

Exactly. Basically just more focus tested stuff to hit the taste of the lowest common denominator.

 

[MujkicHaris]

When you don't do that you get Concord.

This is what Concord did, and how that turned out?
This is not a painter painting something in his basement, games are a product, companies spend 3, 5 years making them, paying monthly salaries to a lot of people as well other expenses, they for sure need to be aware on how to make money and listen to their possible target audience, creativeness is really important to make a innovative product but not the only thing imo.

I’m sure this is what the developers of Concord did.

Concord failed because they listened to user feedback and preferences way too much. They basically tried to replicate the success of Overwatch.
The result? Creatively bankrupt game.

I look at games the same way I look at paintings, movies, animation or music. They are art. And I don't want users to tell my favorite prog rock band when and how to play a guitar solo or what the lyrics should be.

 

[HL3.exe]

Are you really downplaying users' feedback???

Should they antagonize their fans and listen to consultancy firms and political committees instead?

That's going great for western devs.

Kinda yeah. Users often don't really know what they want (with exceptions) and dev realities aren't often suited for meddling from outside sources. It can be helpful in the form of 'mock reviews' or 'modders', as those perspectives inherently understand the technical difficulties and business realities of such projects.

Edit: Their are no such things as political committees in game development. This ain't Russia or China. Video games are inherently political because of the environment that they are made in, or the auteurs expression. I'd rather have a game with an opinion and perspective, then some toothless slop with no bite (insert every Ubi game here from the last 10 years)

 

[Rexo]

I look at games the same way I look at paintings, movies, animation or music. They are art. And I don't want users to tell my favorite prog rock band when and how to play a guitar solo or what the lyrics should be.

I think this is totally valid, but for smaller games, indie stuff where you have a small team doing something for love and enthusiasm, that's when you can compare it to traditional art.
Having 500+ devs on a multimillion dollar product with deadlines and outside pressure is a totally different thing.

 

[mhirano]

This is Disney Focus Groups strategy to success!
You can see that all their franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel are doing great now using this brilliant framework

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Do we want users telling creators how to make movies? Music? TV shows? Let the creators do their magic. The problem isn't this one.

The problem is that we have this industry flooded by companies such as Sweet Baby In or publishers, telling creators what to change in their games and many times things just don't work out. And then i have a feeling companies like Sony have a certain set of guidelines that their huge AAA titles need to follow. Third problem? Publishers meddling on how their games need to be monetized. This changes a videogame's structure in more ways than one. Most companies probably have these. And these 3 things need to be erased completely. I'll be mentioning these three:

1. I think diversity is great...but maybe we're going overboard to the point where most gamers just feel disconnected from it all? Sony currently has female characters as their main characters for all their huge AAA games except God of War: Horizon (lesbian woman), The Last of Us (lesbian woman), Ghost of Tsushima (woman), Ratchet & Clank (of course they had to insert a female character that plays 50% of the game now), Returnal (woman), hell even Spider-Man 2 had huge painful sections where MJ is some sort of terminator and one section where you control a black deaf young girl for no reason...maybe together this is all a bit too much?

2. I also think huge AAA titles have way too much hand-holding right now. I'm looking at games like Forbidden West and GOW Ragnarok. It was so hilariously bad that i don't even know why the need to include puzzles just to have characters telling us what to do. I'll never forget in Forbidden West there's a "puzzle" that we need to discover a code, which is a date...they go all the way to the point we have a character spoiling us the code by saying "it's october...which is the 10th month of the year!!" like it's some big revelation. I just lost it at that point lmao.

Anyone that plays games would tell them to stop doing these two things. Games would be 100% much better if they had characters that people can relate to. Yes there's gay people out there (me included) but when the majority is NOT gay...do they want those to be their main characters? Do they want to have sidequests where two gay characters are going to the prom together ? (Spider-Man 2), etc...

3. Monetization is basically something that an entire game's design is built around of. I'll never forget the day i was playing a Need For Speed game and i was hit by an invisible wall telling me i need to pay to progress to that part of the city...and since then things haven't gotten much better. I'd rather pay full price for a live game that all the DLCs will be "free" than having to pay to progress. A game having the wrong monetization CAN kill a game.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Sounds like a mantra that invariably leads to servicing virgin weebs and the 4chan furry incels.

Sign me up

 

[FewRope]

Ok Nexon, dev who releases copycat slop and then erasing them from existence after awhile because they don't receive attention, several times in history.

Having 0 vision and only catering to user feedback sounds like a great recipe for even more generic slop.

The upcoming generation it's basically this but with "player feedback"

 

[Roxkis_ii]

We need more Boobies and Booties using attractive female characters in videogames again

Man, I love some sex appeal, I just wish it was a little more subtle so I can play the first descendents in front of my kids. Everyone in that game double caked up lol.

 

[NickFire]

Maybe use some of the numbers and data from the recent future along with user feedback. User feedback has value for sure. But only if you are capturing feedback that represents a sufficient sampling of users. And clearly some companies have not done a good job at that.

 

[hemo memo]

This is Disney Focus Groups strategy to success!
You can see that all their franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel are doing great now using this brilliant framework

I don't believe people asked for multiple of shows to promote Disney's streaming service and confuse the hell of anyone who want to catch up. It was simple. They fucked it up. Disney did, not the people.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I look at games the same way I look at paintings, movies, animation or music. They are art.

Unfortunately they are also a business and you cannot throw millions away on a "creative vision". You need to make a product that people want.

 

[Roberts]

If I was a game designer, user feedback would the last thing to take in consideration. No great, innovative, fresh movie, book, song and game was ever released based on the wishes of the fans. They can be helpful to finetune things after the game is released, though.

 

[hemo memo]

I look at games the same way I look at paintings, movies, animation or music. They are art.

Even art can be awful and confusing.
This is "art":

And this is art:

It's obvious which one will apeal to most.

 

[SaintALia]

LOL

Users: "Oh wow, so that means you guys will make a sequel to Vindictus and Dragon's Nest?"
Nexon: "Nah"
Users: "Well...at least strip out just some of the P2W mechanics, make more clothing and aesthetic options freely available and fix bugs in the game that's been going on for years and implementing all the other fixes and features people have been complaining about on the forums for years as well?"
Nexon:"...I hear you....but also....Nah"

 

[Felessan]

I look at games the same way I look at paintings, movies, animation or music. They are art. And I don't want users to tell my favorite prog rock band when and how to play a guitar solo or what the lyrics should be.

And most music, movies, animations and "art", especially focused for mass-market, are craft and not art.
Art is an indie niche. Like arthouse movies or garage bands.

 

[Sethbacca]

Homogenous samey crap incoming.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The Finals is the GotG. Nexon is GOAT publisher.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

imaging listening to actual customers... revolutionary idea.

 

[The Cockatrice]

We need more Boobies and Booties using attractive female characters in videogames again

No, we need good games. Boobs and ass alone dont make a game good. Theres tons of hentai games if you want just those. Nexon is anything but good. Gatcha and mtx crap aint good.

 

[Felessan]

Gatcha and mtx crap aint good.

Roughly half a billion people play large-scale gaas (fortnite, lol, dota, mihoyo games etc)
Which is significantly more than number of classic gamers
Living in a bubble as it is
You may not like it, but it's only your personal preference

 

[Saber]

Concord failed because they listened to user feedback and preferences way too much.

You can't make me believe in hell that Concord was a result of user feedback.
Who in the fuck would want pronoums in a fucking game? Or ulgy disgusting character design? Where the fuck this is present on Overwatch?

Unless the user feedback is twitards, mentally disturbed people and Reera users, sorry no way I believe they took user feedback with this one. Concord was probably from their creativite freedom and result of a culutre of toxicity positivity, when theres not a single soul allowed to criticize.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Roughly half a billion people play large-scale gaas (fortnite, lol, dota, mihoyo games etc)

I know the world is full of idiots, you dont gotta tell me guy. I was one of them.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The problem is things like what people want changes very very fast. They follow user feedback today, and then four years from now when the game is done, people don’t want that anymore.

It’s clear that HL3 is suggesting that they focus more on developing their own unique thing that has its own merit, rather than chase trends or try to pander to a given demographic for whom the market is likely already saturated.

But that's a different conversation altogether.

Before starting production, they decide what kind of game they want to release (choosing between market trends or something more unique) and after that, they ask for feedback.

I agree that making games based on trends is stupid and, in the end, detrimental. But they need to be in touch with their audience at all times. Listening to feedback doesn't mean they have to agree or pander. Just know what people are saying about the game and take note.

Nowadays we have companies claiming that they don't know what the fuck people want. In the social media era, that should never happen.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

This ain't Russia or China. Video games are inherently political because of the environment that they are made in

Jesus, man. Don't make me go to Linkedin and flood the server with Comitee executive roles at EVERY fucking Western publisher.

 

[Felessan]

I know the world is full of idiots, you dont gotta tell me guy. I was one of them.

It very brave for you to think that you are smarter than them.

 

[The Cockatrice]

It very brave for you to think that you are smarter than them.

 

[HL3.exe]

Jesus, man. Don't make me go to Linkedin and flood the server with Comitee executive roles at EVERY fucking Western publisher.

Ofcourse, they're private or public companies. But not state funded with underlying political 'checks and balances' mandates. That's not how it work in liberal countries. Companies here are free to express themselves within obvious limits.

 

[Felessan]

Ofcourse, they're private or public companies. But not state funded with underlying political 'checks and balances' mandates. That's not how it work in liberal countries. Companies here are free to express themselves within obvious limits.

Tell it to Blackrock&Co
It'll be hard to get funding for a project if you don't comply with "standards" (whatever those in control of money thinks they should be). And self-funding/crowd-funding have their limitations
Western countries just have a little obscure proxies to enforce agenda

 

[HL3.exe]

Tell it to Blackrock&Co
It'll be hard to get funding for a project if you don't comply with "standards" (whatever those in control of money thinks they should be). And self-funding/crowd-funding have their limitations
Western countries just have a little obscure proxies to enforce agenda

BlackRock has been the subject of conspiracy theories, including the conspiracy theory that BlackRock owns both Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, which Snopes described as "false" and PolitiFact described as "mostly false".[95][96] Some BlackRock conspiracy theories have incorporated antisemitism, such as the conspiracy theory that Jewish people, including BlackRock founder Robert Kapito, are part of a cabal responsible for COVID-19 and a "COVID agenda".[97]

Had to look up BlackRock. Ah, classic 'magic box' theory thing: company fucks up at one point, are now linked to anti-western conspiracy retards, because folk don't understand the inner workings of the organization, so it must be evil. No other way around it.

To your point of self funding, private equity and venture capitalism didn't disappear all of a sudden. But with 'enforced agenda' you probably mean 'get that queer shit out of my entertainment'.

 

[killatopak]

I do not like Nexon but they're right.