New Growth Drivers in the Gaming Industry: How KGeN is Reshaping User Acquisition

1. Introduction

The current size of the gaming industry has surpassed that of film and music, and it is still showing a rise overall, but there have been many challenges in recent years. In 2023-2024, the industry is facing waves of layoffs and consolidation, soaring development costs, and significant reductions in investment.

Game publishing and distribution also face challenges. The proliferation of AI content, saturated platforms, and players' preference for mature IPs make it exceptionally difficult for new projects to stand out and acquire highly engaged users.

However, opportunities and challenges coexist. As digital natives, Gen Z and Gen Alpha grow up in the virtual world, their purchasing power will continue to drive market expansion. At the same time, the "Global South" market is experiencing explosive rise, and it is expected to become an important incremental market for the gaming industry in the next decade.

This report will explore the latest challenges in game publishing, analyze the high rise opportunities in the "Global South", and focus on KGeN, a blockchain-based gaming platform, evaluating how it reshapes the incentive mechanisms between publishers and players, as well as the feasibility of Web3 task platforms.

2. Challenges Faced by Issuance

One of the biggest challenges currently facing the gaming industry is distribution. Changes in consumer habits, adjustments in regulatory policies, lower market entry barriers, and the continuous saturation of game content have made it increasingly difficult to successfully promote a game.

Players tend to spend most of their time on familiar games or series. In 2023, the top ten games ranked by monthly active users all have release dates over seven years ago. 60% of the gaming hours of new games are concentrated on series that release sequels every year.

In 2024, the number of new games on Steam reached a record of 19,000, but the games released that year accounted for only 15% of the total playtime of players.

The mobile gaming market once had a relatively mature distribution model, but the privacy policy adjustments in 2021 directly impacted how publishers reach their target users. Although mobile advertising has not ended, it has significantly affected user acquisition strategies and business models. Small teams face greater competitive pressure.

The future industry environment is difficult to improve. Although AI can enhance UA efficiency, it will also lower market entry barriers, leading to a significant increase in content quantity. UGC platforms have become a testing ground for independent developers, but they also face challenges in content selection and promotion.

The Web3 gaming market needs to overcome more obstacles. In addition to the aforementioned challenges, it must also comply with stricter policies, and some key markets are even banned. However, the distribution situation of Web3 games on consoles is gradually improving.

The Web3 gaming market is still niche, with about 6 to 7 million active wallets interacting with over 3,000 on-chain game protocols. However, there are only about 200 protocols that truly have more than 100 active on-chain accounts.

In recent years, the emerging Web3 gaming ecosystem has surged, intensifying market challenges. Although the number of new Web3 games has decreased, the number of new networks has significantly risen, leading to an increasingly fierce battle for player liquidity.

Facing numerous challenges, some Web3 companies are exploring a new UA model based on blockchain. Innovative incentive mechanisms and on-chain reputation systems are expected to become a way to gain competitive advantages. In emerging markets, these companies may have significant growth opportunities.

3. Global South(Global South)

The Global South refers to countries and regions with lower levels of economic development, typically located south of industrialized nations. Due to improvements in internet infrastructure, high smartphone penetration rates, and rising income, this region is seen as a gaming market with enormous potential.

The characteristics of the global South gaming market are: a large player base, a major reliance on mobile devices, and a generally low willingness to pay. Historically, it has often been used for soft launch UA testing and front-end data optimization.

However, the younger generation in the region is among the first groups to grow up with smartphones and has a very high preference for game content. With economic development and increased income, they are expected to become a new generation of paying players, driving the gaming industry to new heights.

India (

India is rapidly rising as the largest gaming market in the Global South. In 2017, the number of players was only 44.9 million, and it has now increased to about 466 million, with an expected breakthrough of 640 million by 2027.

Market revenue is expected to rise by 13.6% in 2024 to reach $943 million, breaking $1 billion in 2025, and reaching $1.4 billion by 2028, with a 5-year CAGR of 11.1%. The rise is mainly due to the improvement in user in-app purchase habits and ARPU growth.

The Indian market has a strong preference for mobile games, thanks to the rapid rise of 5G and UPI payment infrastructure. The internet penetration rate has increased from 14% in 2015 to the current 52%, leaving significant room for growth.

Unique Aspects of the Indian Gaming Market:

• Mobile games account for 77.9% of total revenue
• PC games and console games account for only 14.5% and 7.7% respectively.
• Real money games ) RMG ( maximum, annual revenue 2 billion dollars
• Casual and hyper-casual games follow, with total revenue of $700 million.
• Other categories approximately 400 million USD

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) Southeast Asia ( SEA )

Southeast Asia is one of the most mature gaming markets in the Global South. In 2023, gaming revenue reached 5.1 billion USD, an increase of 8.8% year-on-year, and it is expected to reach 7.1 billion USD by 2028, with a 5-year CAGR of 6.7%. In 2023, there were 277 million players, expected to rise to 332 million by 2028.

Indonesia has the highest mobile game downloads, while Thailand has the highest IAP revenue. Community and competitive culture are common characteristics, and word-of-mouth is the main source of information.

The popularity of smartphones and the development of broadband infrastructure drive market rise:

• In 2022, the smartphone penetration rate in major countries exceeded 80%.
• It is expected that the average penetration rate will reach 90.1% by 2026.

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) Latin America (LATAM)

Latin America is another market worth paying attention to, with a large population and a strong gaming culture. In 2022, it was estimated that there were 316 million players, with Brazil accounting for 101 million and generating $2.7 billion in revenue.

Characteristics of the Brazilian market:

• 60% of players have recently played mobile games
• The smartphone penetration rate is expected to reach 83% by 2025.
• 43% of players have in-game spending behavior

The Brazilian market will dominate the growth of the Latin American gaming industry in the future, thanks to:

• 140 universities offer more than 4000 game-related courses
• 1042 game studios, total revenue of approximately $251.6 million
• The new legal framework recognizes game development as a profession and provides tax incentives.

非洲(Africa)

The African gaming market is at a critical development stage, with expected revenues to exceed $1 billion in 2024.

Market characteristics:

• Mobile games account for nearly 90% of the market share
• 92% of players use mobile phones to play games
• Main challenges: high data costs, hardware prices, network connectivity issues
• 63% of players have in-game purchase behavior, payment methods vary by region.

Middle East and North Africa ( MENA )

MENA is the fastest growing gaming market in the world, with a revenue rise of 4.7% in 2023, reaching $7.1 billion. The CAGR is expected to reach 9.4% from 2024 to 2030.

MENA-3### Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt ( are the core markets:

• Expected revenue to reach $2.9 billion by 2027, CAGR 8.3%
• Saudi Arabia accounts for 60.6% of total game revenue and 30.3% of the total number of players.

Market drivers: high proportion of young population, increased internet penetration rate, widespread adoption of new technologies.

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4. What is KGeN

KGeN is a blockchain-driven gaming platform that leverages on-chain and off-chain data, an incentive-based task platform, and a decentralized reputation system to drive user participation across different games. KGeN will return publisher funds to users, promoting the rise flywheel.

The platform's core is a decentralized player data network, covering millions of micro-game communities )KGeN Tribe (. Using "Proof of Gamer" )PoG ( engine, it creates a cross-chain player reputation layer, providing publishers with a highly engaged target user base.

Since January 2024, the total number of registered accounts has risen by over 700%, MAU has increased by 1333%, and the total amount of data attributes has grown by 992%, making it the most active Web3 task and player reputation platform in the market.

The KGeN ecosystem is gradually being decentralized, protecting the PoG engine through a distributed oracle network and providing greater transparency for core stakeholders. Both the oracle network and the KGeN store are powered by KGEN tokens.

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) 4.1 grassroots rise

The core of KGeN rise lies in grassroots tribes and the network of tribal leaders. Tribes represent thousands of micro-communities that have joined the KGeN ecosystem. As of December 2024, KGeN reported having 2,525 tribes, of which 152 have more than 100 members.

The tribe is the core way KGeN promotes UA based on recommendations. Tribe leaders earn points by inviting members and having them complete tasks, which are counted towards the KGeN leaderboard. Approximately 1.7 million KGeN accounts verified through KYC have been acquired through tribes.

Tribal leaders are not only incentivized to bring in new members, but also need to coordinate tribal activities and maintain community engagement. A portion of the total tribal revenue will flow back to the tribal leaders, becoming a key rise incentive mechanism for the platform.

KGeN's largest market currently is India, but over 30% of independent active wallets and trades occur on Kaia. KGeN has strong rise potential in Asia.

To replicate India's success in other markets in the Global South, KGeN needs to adopt similar grassroots rise strategies and collaborate with local gaming micro-communities.

4.2 Incentivize participation through KGeN Play

KGeN Play is the front-end interface where most players on the platform participate, and all reward tasks are published here. Users build their own PoG reputation score by completing tasks.

KGeN Play can be accessed via the PC portal or mobile app. When creating an account, the system automatically creates a blockchain wallet in the background to store user assets and player reputation NFTs.

Users participate in various activities published on the KGeN Play portal, including K-Drops( automatic real-time verification) and K-Quests### manual verification(. Activity rewards include K-Points, leaderboard-based achievements, K-Cash, or tokens.

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) 4.3 PoG engine

The PoG engine is a decentralized player rating system composed of five core pillars, each containing five to ten attributes. These data points track players' skills, "humanity", engagement, wealth, and social networks, building a multifaceted cross-chain reputation system.

Five core pillars:

• PoH( Human Proof ): Reduce the possibility that users are robots
• PoP### Game Proof (: Confirm Player's