Driving Movie Adaptation of Crossfire, PAEK Min-Jung of Smilegate
Major Korean game companies such as Nexon and NCSOFT are bringing the game market to a more popular level, attempting at a cross-over with musical and animation, etc. Among these companies, the most leading player would be Smilegate, the creator of Crossfire, an FPS (First-person shooter) game. It has signed a film adaptation contract with Hollywood’s Original Film, which previously made the Fast & Furious series, and the film is now ready for real production. Would that mean that we are about to see a franchise action film series based on a Korean game? PAEK Min-Jung, Smilegate’s VP of Brand Marketing, explains the possibility.
Could you tell us what kind of game Crossfire is?
Launched in 2007, it will be Crossfire’s 10th anniversary next year. Though it is an old game that has been around for quite a long while, it’s still popular and is highly ranked in the global game sales chart. According to statistics as of the end of 2014, Crossfire was at number one in the global sales chart in the FPS category. It has several other records, too. It has 500 million accumulated users worldwide, which is the result of being on top of the world market for several years, although it is now replaced by League of Legends (LOL). Also, just like you count the number of viewers in the film industry, in the game industry, you hold a special event and count the number of concurrent connected users. Last year, it reached almost 7 million concurrent connected users.
It sounds like a huge success. However, this game is not well known in Korea. Can you tell us why?
In the game industry, 2 million concurrent connected users mean a successful game. Crossfire reached 1 million and 2 million concurrent connected users fairly fast, and when it reached 6 million, it made great news in the game industry. However, it is not that well known domestically because its main market is China, not Korea. In fact, it was also launched in Korea when the game came out. However, there was already a leading player in the FPS category, and for other reasons as well, Crossfire did not do that well. So we briefly wrapped up our business in Korea and instead, expanded it in China. It became a huge success in China so our position in Korea is good as well, but still, this game is not as well known as Starcraft or LOL.
It was announced last October that you signed a contract with Original Film in Hollywood for movie adaptation of Crossfire. This game was made in Korea, became successful in China, and is to be turned into a film in the US. How did that happen?
To tell you a little bit of my personal experience, I used to work for ads agency Cheil and handled promotion of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as part of Samsung Electronics’ global brand promotion before I moved to Smilegate. With such experience in entertainment marketing with Hollywood, I thought “Why not turn great Korean games into films, although it is not a common thing even in the US?” when I moved to where I am now, Smilegate also has thought like me. So We had this idea of turning Crossfire into a film and it came to my mind that a production company would be better than a giant studio, because with a production company we could communicate more easily during the film’s production. With such plans in mind, we made a list of 30 production companies and met 8 of them. Original Film is the result.
It is interesting Smilegate was so excited to attempt at film production. Could you tell us what made you pick Original Film?
First of all, they understood the notion of game property ownership, where a game is the original source. Once launched, a game goes on for several years, if not several decades, rather than being popular for a couple of months and disappearing from the market. So property ownership is a very important notion in the game industry, and it was very important for us that the film producer is also aware of it. Also, Crossfire has this plan of going into a series, meaning that the film also has to be planned as part of the series. Among many production companies, Original Film interpreted Crossfire as a franchise. That is what we especially liked about them. In addition, they have the know-how of making a successful franchise, like Fast & Furious 7.
And vice versa, what do you think Original Film especially liked about Crossfire?
Including Original Film, many production companies were greatly interested when they learned that it had hit top note in China. As you see in The Martian, Chinese audience is a decisive factor in profit-making, so the Chinese power has a huge influence in America. Chinese capital is greatly interested in Korea as well. Korean original contents source, Chinese capital, and American production: such dynamics is surely possible.
What aspects of Crossfire would be included in the film?
I am being careful about this. World of Warcraft, a mega size game, is to be released next year in Hollywood as a blockbuster title. It’s been 10 years since Blizzard first had this idea of turning it into a film. In this process, there were a lot of happenings like switching the producer and director. I guess the understanding of game maker’s property ownership would have been a factor. Similarly, we believe that our value and theme have to be in the film as well, although we understand the profit-making factors are different in the two industries. Two major mercenary groups of Crossfire, Global Risk and Black List, are basically adversary but sometimes collaborate for a bigger cause. I hope such basic settings, characters, and visual aspects like military look and detailed weapon items would be in the film as well. Of course, we are considering all possibilities, and we will keep communicating with the production company.
So, how far has it gone?
Now we have finalized the contract with Original Film, and are currently selecting script writers. We have reviewed several writers’ scripts and made a shortlist. We will finalize the selection in the first half this year and start developing the scenario. And we are looking into 3~5 years to complete the film. But, considering various factors, it can be further delayed. It will be more like an action feature with characters in military look, rather than a CGI-heavy picture, although it is based on a game.
I guess you have a huge expectation for the film.
I hope game-based movies like Warcraft: The Beginning and Assassin's Creed will be successful, and be a good influence for us. (laughs) Starting from this film adaptation project, we are also looking at the big picture of expanding our business into other parts in the culture industry. We are discussing this plan with major companies in TV entertainment, web drama, web cartoon, and so on. However, for the time being, the most important is to make this film well.