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An Exploratory Study for Identifying Key Factors in Online Games Development Strategy Utilizing Web Community

온라인게임 개발전략에 관한 탐색적 연구 : 게임 커뮤니티 활용을 중심으로

  • Published : 2004.08.01

Abstract

Online game business has emerged as the most lucrative entertainment industry, with over 20 million platers. The popularity of online games can be attributed to the presence of numerous PC Bangs around the country, which have pushed online games into the mainstream culture while broadband internet services facilitated online game play. The age distribution of online game players is expanding and a variety of new games are under development to target certain age groups. While the online game market continues to expand, with many new online game publishers entering the market, relatively little is known about which factors are strategically important for successful development of online games. A conceptual framework is proposed, and a structural equation modeling, for Identifying the factors affecting the market success of online games, is developed. The concept of online game community, idea generation, systematic development strategy, flexible development process, utilizing demo-version, outsourcing, etc, are ail introduced into the model, as the independent variables affecting the success level of online games directly and indirectly. Based on data collected from questionnaire survey, the validity of the model has been tested and interesting conclusions have been developed concerning the relationships between these variables. Statistical results show that utilizing online game community and system atic development strategy is the key for successful online game development. Other interesting results concerning game development strategy are also provided. It is hoped that this result might provide the useful guidelines for developing the successful online game contents. With a better understanding of key success factors, online game developers should be able to make adjustments in their development and marketing plans, providing them with a sustainable advantage over their competition.

온라인게임 비즈니스는 가장 수익성이 높은 오락산업으로 등장하였고 2004년 현재 국내에서만 26백만명 이상의 게이머들이 온라인게임을 즐기고 있다. 이러한 온라인게임인구의 급격한 증가는 광대역 인터넷서비스망의 보급으로 온라인게임 플레이환경이 확충되고 전국 도처에 PC방이 보급됨에 따른 것으로 온라인게임은 이제 주류 오락문화로 자리매김이 되고 있다. 또한 점차 다양한 연령층에서 온라인게임을 즐기에 됨에 따라 특정 연령층을 타겟으로하는 다앙한 게임들이 개발되고 있다. 게임시장이 지속적으로 성장하고있고 많은 새로운 온라인퍼블리셔들이 시장에 진입하고는 있지만 온라인게임의 성공적 개발을 위해 어떤 요소들이 전략적으로 중요한지에 대해서는 상대적으로 거의 알려져 있지 않은 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 온라인게임의 성공적 개발에 영향을 주는 요인을 식별하기 위하여 연구모형을 제공하고 이를 구조방정식모형을 이용하여 심증분석을 수행하였다. 연구모형에서는 온라인게임의 성공수준에 직ㆍ간접적으로 영향을 미치는 영향요인으로 커뮤니티활동, 다양한 아이디어탐색, 체계적 개발전략, 신축적 개발프로세스, 데모버전의 활용, 아웃소싱 등을 고려하였다. 설문을 통해 수집된 데이터를 이용하여 연구모델의 타당성을 테스트하고 변수들간의 인과관계를 검증한 결과 흥미로운 결론을 도출할 수 있었다. 분석결과 온라인게임커뮤니티의 활용과 체계적 개발 전략의 수립이 성공적인 온라인게임개발의 핵심요인인 것으로 밝혀졌고 게임개발시 체계적인 개발프로세스를 구축ㆍ운영하는 것이 중요하다는 사실을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구의 결과는 성공적 온라인게임 컨텐츠 개발을 위한 가이드라인으로 유용하게 쓰여지고, 핵심성공요인에 대한 이해를 통하여 게임개발 및 마케팅 전략계획을 체계적으로 구축할 수 있도록 지원해 줄 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

Keywords

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