NHN, Konami to develop online version of hit soccer game

NHN is set to develop “Winning Eleven,” a popular soccer game developed by Japanese game maker Konami, into an online game, NHN’s game business division Han Game and Konami announced at a news briefing in Seoul Tuesday.

More than 70 million copies of Winning Eleven have been sold worldwide, splitting the global soccer game market into two together with FIFA by Electronic Arts.

Konami, Japan’s leading game maker along with Nintendo, has mostly been making games for video consoles. Since it lacked notable experience in online games, however, it decided to join forces with a Korean company more advanced in online game technology.

Another reason Konami chose to team up with NHN is Winning Eleven`s success in Korea, where online games are more popular than those for video game consoles. With the number of the soccer game`s fans growing in Korea as well, even PlayStation cafés have emerged where gamers can play Winning Eleven.

For this reason, a number of Korean online game developers, including market giant NC Soft, proposed to Konami the joint development of Winning Eleven’s online version. Konami Vice President Shinzi Enomoto said at the news briefing Tuesday, “We received many offers from large Korean companies,” adding, “Korean game makers have the world`s strongest capacity in game development, but NHN is a company that has both game and portal services. We found it optimal in providing an online service of the game and decided to sign the contract.”

NHN and Konami are set to introduce the online version of Winning Eleven by next year. For starters, they plan to first launch the service only in Korea.

NHN said, “We will seek to test an online version of Winning Eleven first in the Korean market, an online game powerhouse, before introducing it to the global market,” adding, “If it proves successful in Korea, we can push to secure additional deals for global sales.”

Both companies will also form a task force in a form similar to a joint venture with the capacity to make decisions independently.

There are other obstacles as well. Winning Eleven was developed for use in PlayStation and the game is played by using a controller exclusively designed for it. So this poses the biggest challenge for developers to reinstate the sensitivity of video game consoles in online games for PCs in which players use a keyboard as the controller.

Han Game CEO Chung Wook said, “Winning Eleven’s strength is its realistic and graphic images,” adding, “We will develop the game in a way that users can freely control soccer players with simple keyboard controls and set the key functions."

Hence, NHN is poised to compete with FIFA Online, a soccer game operated by Neowiz. Neowiz formed a partnership with EA and developed an online version of the latter`s hit game.

While Winning Eleven is famous for its realistic soccer action, FIFA Online is strong thanks to its design in using all famous active players through exclusive license contracts with FIFA and the English Premier League. To overcome this loophole, NHN and Konami are stepping up efforts to secure additional licenses for the online version of Winning Eleven.