Finnish game developer Critical Force reported 22 million downloads of the Critical Ops, a first person shooter mobile eSports game. The game studio has also opened its own office in South Korea and is working the development of Critical Ops’ Asian version.
“22 million downloads is a fantastic thing for us especially because this has been achieved completely without paid user acquisition”, said CEO of Critical Force Veli-Pekka Piirainen. “This achievement is highly unusual in the modern mobile games industry where paid user acquisition is the norm. We have achieved our scale and virality through active community management and by having a high-quality game.”
In September 2016, Critical Force raised €4 million in seed funding and partnered with South Korean video game development and publishing conglomerate NHN Entertainment. The partnership resulted in a new Critical Force office in Seul, where the company plans to work on games specifically tailored for the Asian market.
According to Piiranen, the demands for an FPS game in Asia are different from western FPS games. Plus Asian market requires different monetization process. “We are starting the proper pre-production of the Asian version of Critical Ops this summer, but we don’t have a release date for the title yet.” said Tim Spaninks, Lead Designer of Critical Ops.
Critical Force relocation is not one-sided. At least three South Korean developers are moving to the Finnish Critical Force office in Kajaani. “We have a vastly different work culture here in Finland than in Asia. It is a positive challenge for us”, comments Piirainen.
