<table> <tr> <td class=headerlogo> <p class=image><a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net" target="_parent"><img alt="Logo by MP83" src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/logo/hg101logo.png"></a></p> </td> <td> <table class=headerright> <tr> <td class=headermenu> <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/alpha.htm" target="_parent">Articles</a> | <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/features.htm" target="_parent">Features</a> | <a href="http://blog.hardcoregaming101.net" target="_parent">Blog</a> | <a href="http://hg101.proboards.com/" target="_parent">Forums</a> | <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/about.htm" target="_parent">About</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hardcore-Gaming-101/109837535712670" target="_blank"><img alt=" " src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/facebook.png"></a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://twitter.com/HG_101" target="_blank"><img alt=" " src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/twitter.png"></a> </td> <td class=searchbox> <form action="http://www.google.com/cse" id="cse-search-box" target="_parent"> <div> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-5230184257141993:xfg3mydy24k"> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"> <input type="text" name="q" size="30"> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"> </div> </form> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&amp;lang=en"></script> </td> </tr> </table> <table class=headerad> <tr> <td> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-5230184257141993"; /* HG101 */ google_ad_slot = "4961941287"; google_ad_width = 728; google_ad_height = 90; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>

A History of Korean Gaming

Table of Contents

Part 1

Part 2

Back to the Index


HQ Team / 드림웨어 Dreamware

Founded:

October 1992

Status:

assimilated by Joyon

Key People:

:
Team Leader

Website:

www.hqteam.co.kr (offline)


한국 라이센싱 Korea Licensing / 조이온 Joyon / 조이토토 Joytoto

Founded:

September 14th, 1996 (Korea Licensing)
December 24th, 1999 (Gamania Korea)

Status:

active

Key People:

:
Chairman Joyon
:
CEO Joyon

Website:

www.joyon.co.kr (offline)
www.olivegame.com


인티즌 Intizen / 엔도어즈 nDoors

Founded:

September 21, 1999

Status:

active

Key People:

Park Taeung:
CEO (1999-2000)
Gong Byeongho:
CEO (2000-2001)
:
CEO (July 9, 2001-2003)
:
CEO (July 1, 2003-2006)
:
CEO (2006-2013)
:
CEO (June 2013-present)
:
Game Director

Website:

www.intizen.com (offline)
www.ndoors.com


In October 1992, four high school friends (team leader Kim Taegon, Yi Jehyeong, Yi Hyeongjin and Jeong Jongpil) got together to form HQ Team and started working on their first game, Knight Master. But the fatherland called, and thus they just uploaded a very early demo of their unfinished RPG and left for their two years of military duty1.

Upon their return, they resumed their enterprise, but a new inspiration left a deep impact on them: Warcraft. Thus they set out to make the first real-time strategy game set in the history of Korea.2 Lacking the manpower and business experience for such a project, they pitched it to Trigger Soft, who helped out with the graphics and took care of the production side of things3. Afterwards HQ Team decided to take things into their own hands, and their next title Imjinrok marked the beginning of one of the most popular game series in Korea4.

Despite their success, the financial situation remained insecure, and thus the team (by now renamed Dreamware5) eventually joined up with Gamania Korea in July 20006.

Gamania Korea was founded as a joint-venture of the venerable Taiwanese company that was founded in 1990 as Full Soft and the localization studio and Korea Licensing (the Gamania Korea of today is a new company and not directly related7). The brothers Jo Seongsam and Jo Seongyong who ran Korea licensing and Gamania Korea had first founded a PC systems and floppy disk import company named Saem Jeonja in 1988. It had made first game publishing experience in a cooperation with Ssangyong in 1992, but went bankrupt in 1995, resulting in the founding of Korea Licensing, which localized foreign games for the Korean market, but also sold Korean game publishing rights to the US (Korea Licensing was renamed in 2003 to Multi Plus Enterprise)8.

Gamania Korea was on a course of expansion in 2000, taking in not only Dreamware, but also Caiz Studio, developer of the mecha action game Gears9. In August 2001, it severed its ties to Gamania and was renamed to JoyOn. After Kim Taegon and HQ Team left in 200310, the company worked on several more online games, but didn't get to publish any of them. On March 7th, 2006, JoyOn fusioned with the lottery portal JoyToto11 (which had previously renamed itself from Lotototo12), gave up in-house development and settled as a online game web portal only.

In the meantime Kim Taegon and his crew worked on their next title, Goonzu, with the web portal provider Intizen as their publishing partner13. That partnership worked out well enough for them to become the in-house team of Intizen, which soon specialized in games alone and renamed itself to nDoors14.

Ndoors also took in Coong Entertainment in January 2006, the first Korean developer of PSP software (English language trainers, though, no games)15. In May 2010, the company became an acquisition target itself, and since then operates as a subsidiary of Nexon16.

The game news portal ThisIsGame.com declared Kim Taegon the Game Developer of the Year 200717.


Games

충무공전 (Chung Mugong-jeon) / War Diary - IBM PC (June 1996)

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

Triggersoft
HQ Team

Publisher:

Orange Soft

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Korean History


War Diary (IBM PC)

War Diary (IBM PC)



임진록 (Imjin-rok) / Seven Years War - IBM PC (August 1997)

임진록 영웅전쟁 (Imjin-rok: Yeongung Jeonjaeng) - Windows (January 1999)

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

HQ Team

Publisher:

Samsung

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Korean History




이스트 (East) - Windows (September 1998)

Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

HQ Team

Publisher:

SKC

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Fantasy


East (Windows)



임진록2 (Imjin-rok 2) / Seven Years War 2 - Windows (January 20, 2000)

임진록2+: 조선의 반격 (Imjin-rok 2+: Joseon-ui Ban'gyeok) - Windows (April 28, 2001)

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

HQ Team

Publisher:

Samsung

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Korean History


Imjin-rok 2 (Windows)



천년의 신화 (Cheonnyeon-ui Sinhwa) / Legend of Millennium / Myth of Millennium - Windows (August 3, 2000)

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Artwork

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

eSofnet

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Korean History


Myth of Millennium (Windows)

Myth of Millennium (Windows)



짱구는 못말려 4: 부리부리왕국의비밀 (Jjanggu-neun Monmallyeo 4: Buri Buri Wanggug-ui Bimil) / Crayon Shin-chan 4 - Windows (March 2001)

Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

Samsung

Genre:

Platforming

Theme:

Licensed


Crayon Shin-chan 4 (Windows)



타자로매니아 (Tazaro Mania) - Windows (September 6, 2001)

Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

Game2You

Genre:

Typing

Theme:

Wacky


Tazaro Mania (Windows)



기어즈 (Gears) / Gears War (ギアーズ ウォー) - Windows (September 19, 2001)

Cover

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (Caiz Studio)

Publisher:

JoyOn (Korea)
Sunsoft (Japan)

Genre:

Action: 3rd Person

Theme:

Mechas


Gears (Windows)



거상 (Geosang) / Great Merchant - Windows (April 8, 2002 [open beta])

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Artwork

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

Gammania Korea
AK Interactive

Genre:

MMORPG

Theme:

Fantasy: Far East


Great Merchant (Windows)

Great Merchant (Windows)



천년의 신화 2 ~화랑의 혼~ (Cheon-nyeon-ui Sinhwa 2: Hwarang-ui Hon) / Myth of Millennium 2 - Windows (August 21, 2003)

Artwork

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

Wizard Soft

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Korean History


Myth of Millennium 2 (Windows)



해상왕 장보고 (Haesang-wang Jang Bogo) / The Lord of the Sea - Windows (September 30, 2003)

Artwork

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

JoyOn (HQ Team)

Publisher:

JoyOn

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Fantasy: Far East


The Lord of the Sea (Windows)

The Lord of the Sea (Windows)



군주 (Goonzu) - Windows (January 10, 2004 [open beta]; August 2004)

군주S (Goonzu Special) - Windows (June 15, 2007 [open beta])

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

nDoors

Genre:

Strategy

Theme:

Fantasy: Far East


Goonzu (Windows)

Goonzu Special (Windows)



타임앤테일즈 (Time 'N' Tales) - Windows (March 30, 2006 [open beta]; July 27, 2006)

Artwork

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

Gravity

Genre:

MMORPG

Genre:

Fantasy


Time 'N' Tales (Windows)

Time 'N' Tales (Windows)



쿵파 (Koong! Pa) - Windows (July 5, 2007 [open beta])

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

Nexon

Genre:

Fighting


Koong! Pa (Windows)



아틀란티카 (Atlantica) - Windows (January 9, 2008 [open beta]; January 28, 2008)

Poster

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Artwork

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

nDoors

Genre:

MMORPG

Theme:

Fantasy


Atlantica (Windows)

Atlantica (Windows)



불멸 온라인 (Bulmyeol Online) - Windows (December 21, 2010 [open beta])

Poster

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

nDoors

Genre:

MMORPG

Theme:

Fantasy


Bulmyeol Online (Windows)

Bulmyeol Online (Windows)



삼국지를 품다 (Samgukji-reul Pumda) - Windows (TBA)

There is no description for this game yet. If you happen to own/have played it and want to contribute, please get in touch on the forums.

Quick Info:

Developer:

nDoors

Publisher:

nDoors

Genre:

MMORPG

Theme:

Fantasy


Samgukji-reul Pumda (Windows)



Unreleased Titles:

임진록~동토의 여명~ (Imjin-rok: Dongto-ui Yeomyeong) (2002-2003)

거상2 (Geosang 2) / Great Merchant 2 (2006-2007)


References
1. PC Champ 4/1998, page 205
2. Gameabout 4/11/2007
3. Gamespot Korea - Self Story: JoyOn's Kim Taegon (2)
4. Gamespot Korea - Self Story: JoyOn's Kim Taegon (3)
5. ETNews 10/22/2012
6. Gamespot Korea - Self Story: JoyOn's Kim Taegon (4)
7. Game Job - Gammania Korea Company Profile
8. Kyunghyang Games 5/3/2004
9. JoyOn Company History (archived 6/23/2003)
10. http://m2.dt.co.kr/contents.html?article_no=2003041602012568671001
11. Job Korea - JoyToto Company Profile
12. Newswire 3/7/2006
13. Naver News 6/12/2003
14. nDoors Company History
15. Kim Donguk's into the Game(& Book) 1/18/2006
16. nDoors Company History
17. This Is Game - Interview with Kim Taegon 12/16/2008


Table of Contents

Part 1

Part 2

Back to the Index