The Bricks Games (CEO Lee Hye-rin) announced its participation in the ‘2024 PlayX4 B2B,’ which will be held at KINTEX Hall 1 in Ilsan from May 23rd (Thursday) to 26th (Sunday).
The Bricks Games is an indie game developer that aims to raise awareness of social issues and improve perception through the medium of games. They have developed a suicide prevention-themed story adventure game called <30 Days> and are currently developing a merge game called <MeowMeowStar>, focusing on improving awareness of companion animals. The company strongly recommends the game to players who enjoy story-based games that capture ‘fun’ and ‘message.’
Their first work, <30 Days>, focused solely on the social impact game’s inherent function of delivering social messages. Despite this, it recorded over 430,000 downloads on both major stores (Google Play Store, Apple App Store) after its release targeting Korean gamers in August 2021. Furthermore, the year after its release in 2022, it won various gaming awards in the social impact category, receiving recognition for its artistic value.
Following this success, the expanded version of <30 Days>, called <30 Days Another>, is set to be released for PC and consoles in the third quarter of 2024. Similarly, their next project, <MeowMeowStar>, is also scheduled to be released around the same time, targeting gamers worldwide.
At the upcoming PlayX4 offline exhibition, The Bricks Games aims to unveil <MeowMeowStar> for the first time as its primary goal. With approximately 35% of the game’s overall volume completed, they intend to hear feedback from playing the build through its initial unveiling and reflect this feedback well before the official release to bring more joy to more people.
The social message that The Bricks Games wants to convey through <MeowMeowStar> is ‘improvement of companion animal awareness.’ A representative from The Bricks Games stated, “Out of the approximately 10 million Korean nationals, nearly 110,000 companion animals are abandoned annually. Among them, half end up dying in shelters without being adopted.” They continued, “Improving ‘companion animal awareness’ can gradually change perceptions, starting with the understanding that the value of life is equal.”
Furthermore, they added, “As the number of adopters of stray animals increases, the operating costs and burdens of animal shelters can be significantly reduced. Additionally, by playing games, potential adopters willing to adopt lost or abandoned animals but unaware of the procedures or actual situations can improve their awareness.”
Players can obtain various items necessary for raising cats through merging while playing <MeowMeowStar>. This brings fun as it requires simple yet strategic efforts and considerable effort. Moreover, players can enjoy growing as influencers by uploading their daily lives with companion animals on the virtual SNS, ‘MeowMeowStar.’ The representative also mentioned that gamers can expect to be captivated by unique experiences, the cuteness of cats, and various collection elements.
While <MeowMeowStar> aims for global release, the primary target country is the United States. The representative stated, “We expect that about 38% of the total revenue will come from the United States, corresponding to 28% of the revenue from the merge genre, ranking first. Considering that Korean-English translation is the fastest and most accurate and that the level of awareness of companion animals is high and institutional arrangements are well guaranteed, the United States was the main focus.” They added, “Considering that women play casual and puzzle games much more than men, <MeowMeowStar> will establish marketing and sales strategies targeting female players aged between 20 and 40 residing in the United States.”
Additionally, The Bricks Games plans to participate in the Tokyo Game Show scheduled for September this year with <MeowMeowStar> and to continuously operate and update the content for more than two years after its release.
The ‘2024 PlayX4 B2B,’ hosted by Gyeonggi Content Agency and KINTEX, is themed ‘More Than Just the Joy of Gaming’ and features exhibitions and experiences of new games from Korean and international game companies. Visitors can enjoy side programs like the retro game market, esports competitions, and cosplay events.