San Francisco based Outspark is quickly on the path to becoming the darling of the North American free-to-play industry. A quick look at their recent staff and/or advisory board additions clearly points to the making of the perfect storm. Today’s announcement adds just another perfect element to this storm, as Outspark has just added San Won Chung to their advisory board. Chung, the former CEO of Nexon, the gold standard in free-to-play gaming in the Korean/Asian free-to-play market, as well as his most recent position of EVP with Neowiz, will now sit on Outspark’s advisory board.
With an industry career spanning over a decade, Chung recently filled the shoes of Executive Vice President with Neowiz, one of Korea’s largest online gaming publishers, where he successfully brought the FIFA Online title to the Korean market. This project was in collaboration with Electronic Arts. If you’re starting to notice the heavy EA influence in Outspark, you’re on the right track.
“We are delighted to add another outstanding business leader with broad and relevant experience to our Advisory Board,” said Owen Mahoney, CEO of Outspark. “Sang Won Chung is a veteran executive in the online gaming industry with considerable experience that will help foster our long-term growth and success as we expand our ever increasing base of loyal game players.”
Having served as CEO of Nexon from 2001-2004, Mr. Chung was in the drivers’ seat when some of Nexon’s top products were launched including (the one that started it all) Maple Story, Kart Rider, and Shattered Galaxy. Arguably, these titles singlehandedly ignited the free-to-play/microtransactions supported online gaming business model.
“This is an exciting and transformative time in the online gaming industry and Outspark is clearly one of the most innovative game companies in the world today,” said Mr. Chung. “With North America and Europe poised to be the next great markets for free-to-play games, I feel privileged to join a dynamic team of renowned industry leaders. I look forward to participating in the growth of Outspark as it helps guide the future of the freemium game industry.”
