Mobile gaming is expected to generate $1.4 billion in South Korea this year, and mobile games like Anipang have become a cultural phenomenon within the country. It’s as common to see older women in their sixties playing games in the subway as it is to see younger children playing games at the bus stop. We at Ultra believe the mobile gaming craze in Korea is largely a result of the following factors.
Kakao dominates top Google Play ranks
1. KakaoTalk’s Social Graph
The KakaoTalk mobile messaging service has blossomed to more than 100 million users and 5 billion messages sent daily. It is visually attractive and it has effectively replaced text messages in South Korea. And it has generated unique experiences.
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Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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