Analyzing the Ecosystem of the Domestic Online Game Industry : Focusing on the Linkage between Developers and Publishers

This study aims to analyze the structure and characteristics of the domestic online game industry using network analysis. In particular, two-mode network analysis is employed to measure the network structure, centrality, and cluster for two types of online game platforms, online games and mobile games, from 1996 to 2014. We also conduct a dynamic analysis to capture the structural changes in the ecosystem by internal and external environmental changes before and after turning point for each online game platform. It is revealed that the online game econsystem has the higher number of clusters and higher concentration ratio than those of mobile game ecosystem. In dynamic analysis, both platforms exhibit similar trends over time with the increasing number of clusters, enlargement of largest cluster’s size, and decreasing concentration ratio. This study is expected to provide fruitful implications for strategic decision making of online game companies and policy making for the online game industry. †