Weixin has more than 200 million users, but no profit to show for it.
Many people propose a similar solution to this dilemma: gaming. And they always refer to Kakao Talk and Line, the Korean and the Japanese Weixin respectively. Before they turned to gaming, both services faced the same dilemma as Weixin: millions of users, but mounting loses. Last year, Kakao Talk’s loss climbed from 4 billion won a year before to 15.2 billion won.
To counter this trend, Kakao Talk turned to gaming. The company signed up game designers to launch games specifically produced for the Kakao ecosystem, and started to recommend these games to its 30 million plus users. Kakao Talk also launch its own line of virtue currencies called “Chocos” to be used for all transactions, which Kakao Talk would then take a cut.
Start your free trial now.
Get instant access to all our premium content, archives, newsletters, and online community.
Monthly Membership
Yearly Membership
What you get
Full access to all premium content and our full archives
Members'-only newsletters
Preferential access and discounts to all TechNode events
Direct access to the TechNode newsroom
Start your free trial now.
Get instant access to all our premium content, archives, newsletters, and online community.