5 years on, overseas players make up nearly 80% of game’s user base
CookieRun: Kingdom has become one of South Korea's most enduring mobile game success stories, and its parent company Devsisters is stepping up its international ambitions as the bulk of the game's audience now comes from overseas, according to its project director.
In a written interview with The Korea Herald on Monday, Kim I-hwan, a project director who oversees the full production of CookieRun: Kingdom, said the company's long-term goal is to grow the franchise into a globally resonant IP.
"At launch, the game's player base was roughly 50:50 (roughly evenly between Korea and overseas markets), but the share of overseas users has gradually grown," said Kim, noting that overseas players now make up nearly 80 percent of the total, with North America accounting for the largest portion.
With that shift, he said the company is aiming for sustained momentum and deeper engagement with fans in the region.
"Now that we've received such a positive response, we're working hard to ensure it doesn't remain a one-time wave of interest, but instead to build stronger points of connection with North American users through continued follow-up efforts," he said. "We want to carry this momentum forward with care."
The company's strategy going forward includes pushing into formats that have been relatively underutilized for the title, including animation and comics, while also consistently launching varied minigames within CookieRun: Kingdom and leveraging its wider portfolio of CookieRun IP, such as CookieRun: Ovenbreak and CookieRun: Witch's Castle Blast.
"Recently, the company has been expanding the world of CookieRun: Kingdom across multiple channels — releasing short animated videos based on the storyline of the battle against Dark Enchantress Cookie through the game and YouTube, and sharing comics on the game's social media platforms," said Kim.
Asked about the potential for major crossovers involving the company's flagship title CookieRun: Kingdom, Kim downplayed the idea of consolidating the brand into a single shared universe, while leaving room for occasional connective threads.
"Rather than merging everything into a single unified universe, each title will unfold its own unique and entertaining story," he said. "That said, there will be points where they connect from time to time, centered on the Time Administration Bureau, one of the CookieRun IP's long-standing themes. We think it could be fun for players to discover and piece together these connections."
The interview arrives as CookieRun: Kingdom celebrates its fifth anniversary, after first launching on Jan. 19, 2021. To mark the milestone, Devsisters hosted a large-scale fan festival at Kintex in Goyang over Saturday and Sunday, drawing hundreds of attendees across two days of programming.
The event featured a range of activations, including creator-run booths selling fan-made merchandise, an expansive exhibition space charting the game's evolution over the past five years, a cosplay runway and interactive game stations. Fans queued for quick challenges such as timed button-press contests and ball-throwing minigames to earn stamps, which could be redeemed for prizes, merchandise and in-game coupons.
During a creator talk at the festival, Chief IP Officer Lee Eun-ji reflected on the company's long-term roadmap for the franchise — one that traces back to the early days of Kakao CookieRun.
"Ever since we first created Kakao CookieRun about 13 years ago, we've been asking ourselves how to build CookieRun not as a short-lived mobile game, but as an IP that can last 30 or even 50 years," Lee said.
At the time, she noted, mobile gaming was still in its first major wave, and expectations for longevity were limited.
"People would constantly congratulate us and ask, ‘So when is your next new title coming out?' But we would respond, CookieRun isn't over yet, we're going to keep going.'"
Lee said the team continued looking for ways to expand the property beyond the typical cycle of mobile releases, eventually arriving at a storytelling framework centered on character. "There are countless kinds of cookies in the world — chocolate chip cookies, sandwich cookies, and more — but what's interesting is that (CookieRun's main character GingerBrave) is shaped like a human," Lee said.
That concept, she added, became a foundation for an expansive creative engine, built around reflecting human stories. "There are billions of people in the world, and every individual has a story — endless material for storytelling," she said. "I began imagining CookieRun's future more than a decade ago as something that, if done right, could continue entertaining people for 100 years or more."
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