Interview with Korean business development director Rick K. Dong
Korean digital entertainment market is game- and Korea-oriented
South Korea is one of the world’s best crypto, e-sport, and gaming markets, and one of the key regions for DeStream. Here is the interview about this market with our Korean business development director Rick K. Dong, a Director of Strategic Planning in YJM Games — a top VR and mobile game developer in Korea. Rick is also one of the winners of our Global ICO@Seoul meetup prize draw — he won a pack of our tokens worth $1,200!What do you think about the Korean digital entertainment market?I was thinking about that yesterday, digital entertainment market is definitely growing and there are a lot of platforms right now giving consumers lots of options to choose from. Korea digital entertainment contents using platforms like AfreecaTV, provide lots of general entertainment to young consumers with contents with a lot of social talks, guy’s and girl’s cooking or eating programs, and gaming streams with professional gamers. These are the most popular and they get paid a lot. Most people on the subways these days are watching something, no one is talking, all their heads are down watching digital feeds of what they want. The introduction of mobile devices has definitely changed the way people view contents. In the past, we knew all of our close friends’ numbers and now I don’t remember any of them! That part of our memory is gone!
The important thing about the Korean digital entertainment market is that it’s Korea-oriented. During the Olympic games, on Korean TV, you only watch the Sports where Korea can win a medal! For instance, Applepay might be huge everywhere else, but in Korea, Samsung pay is the only one that exists.
Do you see any trends in streaming?Since my company is a gaming company, it has a lot to do with gaming and e-sports viewers research and how much they pay. In the US, 50% of people don’t have any cable TV at all, but they watch the e-sports programs. So, whatever games we make, we try to incorporate e-sports aspect into it. When we develop a classic FPS game, we also have to follow it with another development project of turning that game into a tournament-based shooting game, or the game really won’t make a hit in such a large industry.
Slowly, all these games are coming up. In the nearest future, e-sports can only grow bigger, that’s why the DeStream project looks very promising. If you can work out the whole cashout flow with fewer fees through this system and if this platform really works, you will win.
Korea is a game-oriented country, however, one thing you have to keep in mind with any Korean industry is that it is very volatile (streaming as well). People tend to change their minds fast, they are very trend sensitive, at first, all the population gets into something then a bit later nobody will be interested in it anymore. When we make a mega hit game, the first week, the whole nation will play it intensity, and then 3 months later the fad will subside and nobody will play it anymore.
What is your business in Korea?My company is a gaming company, we design mobile games and virtual reality projects. We also engage in mobile and VR game publishing, as well as active investments into sector funds and startups. We started betting on VR a bit too early and the market isn’t here yet, but I think it will finally get here in about 2 years with all in one HMD products getting released this year by many firms.
What do you think about blockchain market future?I think it is very bright. Sooner or later, all these firms will have some sort of blockchain in their business model. There are lots of gaming companies trying to associate their company with blockchain technology in hopes of having a successful ICO. All IT firms are concentrating on key words like ICO, token, crypto, and blockchain. Our goal is to have our own blockchain technology-related project as well. The more I find out about blockchain and ICOs, the more I realize that more research and study needs to be done in that area. Blockchain technology and the ICO industry will grow in 5 years. I think it’s going to hit every country, the blockchain pioneers in any industry will be legends.
Why are you interested in the DeStream project?I’ve done my research for a couple of months and I think your platform is No 1 in streaming. To be the first one is actually means that you drive the industry. The value of the platform that is No 1 in this industry can only go up, while time passes by.
Honestly speaking, right now is an early stage of blockchain evolution. Everything is going to be in the blockchain, in my opinion. And right now, with blockchain, the most important thing is to be the first one to put down the flag, and you guys are the first ones to do it combining streaming, payment keywords with blockchain.
Nowadays young people don’t watch whole TV shows, it is usually streaming pieces or videos, and then they share opinions on what they watch. According to my own research, a lot of young people don’t even have cable TV at home, they are watching streaming videos, streaming feeds on their smartphones and PCs. So the industry is changing, and streaming itself is changing, the consumer definitely is changing, so the industry can only grow bigger. I believe your platform is going to go global in the nearest future!
What were your first crypto coins?I just took the safe route and invested some small capital into it. I did 50% of Bitcoin, 25% of Ethereum, 25% of Litecoin, I put all of them in my digital wallet, and I’m going to keep them for 10 years starting from now. Hopefully, in 10 years my investment will give me a Ferrari!
