Hidden object games have been a staple in the world of mobile gaming for many years. Recently, one studio in particular, Wooga, has seen a surge in popularity with their hit puzzle game June’s Journey. This success has led to significant growth for the company, even amidst the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. Wooga will now be attending PGC Helsinki 2023 in hopes of recruiting new talent as they continue to expand.
Discussing Wooga’s Success
At Gamescom 2023, we had the opportunity to speak with Nai Chang, Wooga’s managing director, to learn more about the factors contributing to June’s Journey’s success.
PocketGamer.biz: How has Wooga been doing?
Nai: We’ve had tremendous success in recent years. We’ve experienced steady and sustainable growth, reaching several significant milestones. Last year, we surpassed $500 million in revenue for June’s Journey. And we’re on track to surpass that amount this year. We also dominate the hidden object genre, with June’s Journey holding over 60% market share. So both in terms of product and business, we’re doing exceptionally well. From an organizational standpoint, we’ve gone through a restructure to focus on our live games and new game development. This has allowed us to grow our team from 200 employees in 2020 to over 300 in just three years.
What Sets Wooga Apart?
When asked about what sets Wooga apart in the industry, Nai emphasized the importance of the company’s people and culture.
Nai: Our main point of pride is the strong sense of culture within our organization. We have a shared understanding of the importance of having aligned values, ways of working, and ways of thinking. This ensures that everyone is treated equally in the workplace. This stability and cohesion have been crucial as we navigated through significant global changes in recent years.The Success of June’s Journey
With June’s Journey being Wooga’s flagship title, we were curious to know what factors have contributed to its success.
PocketGamer.biz: What do you think has made June’s Journey so successful?
Nai: Our product vision at Wooga is to be the player’s choice for puzzle and casual games. Through extensive player feedback and research, we discovered that the most common use cases for casual game players are relaxation before bed and passing time during a commute. We recognized that story and narrative were essential elements in these use cases. People used to watch movies, TV shows, or read books for this type of deeper immersion and fantasy experience. We aimed to fill this gap in the mobile market with June’s Journey. By incorporating a strong narrative and character development into a proven game mechanic like hidden object puzzles, we created a game that captures players’ curiosity and keeps them engaged over time.
This focus on storytelling and player immersion is a thread that runs through all of our games. June’s Journey was our breakthrough success in this aspect. We build upon a strong core mechanic and tailor features and content to different player motivations and preferences. For example, we added social systems to cater to players who enjoy collaborative gameplay and side events that allow players to learn more about the characters and the game world. Understanding our players and delivering what matters to different segments of our audience has been vital to our success.
Wooga at PGC Helsinki 2023
Wooga is excited to participate in PGC Helsinki 2023 as a sponsor. They see this event as an excellent opportunity to find talented individuals to join their expanding team.
Nai: Helsinki is a thriving gaming hub in Europe, and we’re looking forward to connecting with potential candidates at PGC Helsinki. These large-scale events are the perfect platform for us to recruit top talent.
For more information about Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2023, including how to get tickets and details about the event, visit their website.
We hope to see you there!