NC’s ‘Purple’ Survival Strategy: Aiming for the Steam/Epic Niche

Digital Daily Published on 2024-09-19 14:20:38

Expanding Purple into a Comprehensive Game Platform

NCsoft (NC) is planning to expand its platform ‘Purple’, which has been servicing mainly its own games, into a comprehensive game platform. However, as large platforms such as Steam and Epic Games have monopolized the market, NC is contemplating a survival strategy for Purple.

Purple Game Distribution Business Begins

NCSOFT has officially stepped into the game distribution business by introducing four games distributed by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) through Purple. They will sequentially release the PC versions of ‘Horizon Forbidden West’, ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered’, ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales’, and ‘Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’, and will hold a discount event of up to 40% for these games.

Purple is NC’s own platform that was introduced in 2019 to allow mobile games to be played on PCs. NC plans to use Purple as a means to introduce its own games to the world as before, but also as a channel to distribute various partner games and AAA games.

Steam and Epic Games Store: The Competition

However, the industry’s view on Purple is complex. It is difficult to see it as having a distinct competitive edge compared to global PC game platforms such as Steam and Epic Games Store that have dominated the market.

Steam, the industry’s number one PC game distribution platform, has about 33 million concurrent users. Even if Purple has a differentiated appeal, it is not easy to attract users.

Leveraging Crossplay Strengths: Purple’s Survival Strategy

However, there are also expectations that Purple’s own competitiveness and NC’s development capabilities can be combined to establish a position of their own. In particular, there is an observation that there is a high possibility that it will grow into a game distribution platform specialized in the Asian region, where mobile and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are highly preferred.

Purple boasts excellent mobile-PC cross-play capabilities. This could be a unique advantage in the Asian market, where mobile games are particularly popular. NC is also well-versed in MMORPG development.

Building a Differentiated Ecosystem

In addition, Purple is equipped with a streaming function that supports simultaneous operation of multiple games, as well as chat and voice conversation functions between users. By strengthening these community-based functions, it is expected that a differentiated ecosystem can be built, such as increasing the time users spend on the platform.