The gaming industry faces challenges, KGeN reshapes the issuance model

1. Introduction

The gaming industry has surpassed the film and music industries in scale, but it faces severe challenges in recent years. From 2023 to 2024, the industry has experienced waves of layoffs and consolidation, soaring development costs, and a significant reduction in investment. Game issuance and distribution have become increasingly difficult, with the proliferation of AI content, saturation of platforms, and players' preference for mature IPs, making it hard for new projects to stand out.

Nevertheless, there are still huge opportunities in the industry. The consumption power of digital natives will continue to drive market expansion. The "Global South" market, which has long been overlooked, is experiencing explosive growth and will become an important incremental market for the gaming industry in the next decade.

This report will explore the latest challenges in game issuance, analyze the high-growth opportunities in the "Global South," and focus on KGeN - a blockchain-based gaming platform aimed at reshaping the incentive mechanisms between publishers and players.

2. Challenges Faced by Issuance

One of the biggest challenges in the current gaming industry is issuance. Changes in consumer habits, adjustments in regulatory policies, lowered market access thresholds, and the continuous saturation of game content have made it increasingly difficult to successfully promote games.

Players tend to spend most of their time playing familiar games or franchises, making it difficult for new titles to break through. In 2023, the top ten games ranked by average monthly active users were all released over seven years ago. In 2024, Steam is set to welcome a record-breaking 19,000 new game releases, but the games released that year only account for 15% of the total gaming time of players.

The mobile gaming market once had a mature issuance model, but the significant adjustments to privacy policies by Apple and Google in 2021 affected how publishers reach their target users. Although these changes did not end mobile advertising, they did have a significant impact on user acquisition strategies and the business models of mobile games.

The Web3 gaming market faces additional obstacles, such as the need to comply with stricter policies on mobile platforms, Steam, and console platforms, with direct bans in some key markets. The scale of the Web3 gaming market is relatively small, with approximately 6 to 7 million active wallet addresses interacting with over 3,000 on-chain gaming protocols, but only about 200 protocols truly have more than 100 active on-chain accounts.

Faced with numerous challenges, a group of Web3 companies is exploring a new user acquisition model based on blockchain. Innovative incentive mechanisms and on-chain reputation systems are becoming potential ways for these companies to gain a competitive advantage through Web3 integration.

3. Global South(Global South)

The Global South refers to countries and regions that are relatively underdeveloped economically, typically located south of industrialized nations. Due to the rapid improvement of internet infrastructure, high smartphone penetration rates, and the growth of disposable income, this vast area is seen as a gaming market with huge potential.

The characteristics of the gaming market in the Global South are: a large player base, a primary reliance on mobile devices for gaming, and a generally low willingness to pay. As the younger generation grows and benefits from economic development and rising income, many believe they will become the new generation of paying players, driving the gaming industry to new heights.

India (

India is rapidly emerging as the largest gaming market in the Global South. Currently, the number of gamers is approximately 466 million, and it is expected to exceed 640 million by 2027. Market revenue is projected to grow by 13.6% in 2024 to reach $943 million, surpassing $1 billion in 2025, and expected to reach $1.4 billion by 2028.

The Indian market has a strong preference for mobile games, largely thanks to the country being one of the fastest-growing in terms of 5G globally, and having a wide digital payment infrastructure. The internet penetration rate has increased from 14% in 2015 to the current 52%, indicating that there is still significant room for future growth.

) Southeast Asia ( SEA )

Southeast Asia is one of the most mature gaming markets in the Global South. In 2023, the region's gaming revenue reached $5.1 billion and is expected to grow to $7.1 billion by 2028. In 2023, there were 277 million gamers, and this number is projected to increase to 332 million by 2028.

Community and competitive culture are common characteristics of the region. Word-of-mouth is the main source of information, and the best-performing games usually have social features. The penetration rate of smartphones and the development of broadband infrastructure are key factors driving market growth.

Latin America (LATAM)

Latin America is another major market worth paying attention to, with a large population and a strong gaming culture. In 2022, the region is estimated to have 316 million gamers, with Brazil being the largest market, having 101 million players and generating $2.7 billion in gaming revenue.

The Brazilian market shows a strong preference for mobile games, with 60% of players having played a mobile game at least once in the past six months. 43% of players engage in in-game purchases, indicating that a mature market is surpassing basic monetization models.

非洲(Africa)

The African gaming market is at a critical stage of development, with revenues expected to exceed $1 billion by 2024. Mobile games account for nearly 90% of the market share. 92% of African gamers play games on their phones, while the penetration rates for computers ###51%( and game consoles )31%( are relatively low.

The main challenges include high data costs, hardware prices, and network connectivity issues. Payment systems are both a challenge and an opportunity, with 63% of players engaging in in-game purchases, but payment methods vary by region.

) Middle East and North Africa ( MENA )

The MENA region is the fastest-growing gaming market in the world, with a revenue growth of 4.7% in 2023, reaching $7.1 billion. The compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 9.4% from 2024 to 2030.

The region is dominated by three strong markets: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt. Saudi Arabia leads the way, accounting for 60.6% of total gaming revenue and 30.3% of MENA gamers.

![Let gamers prove: how KGeN redefines user acquisition]###-img.panewslab.com/yijian/2025/4/2/images/707e15a8f84c32a9bc22414f1e5d7be1.jpeg(

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 promote user engagement across different games. Unlike other user acquisition platforms, KGeN returns the publishers' funds to users, driving its growth flywheel.

The core of the platform is a decentralized player data network, covering millions of microgame communities )KGeN Tribe (. The network uses "Proof of Gamer" ) PoG ( engine, creating a cross-chain player reputation layer and providing publishers with a highly engaged target user base.

The KGeN ecosystem is currently undergoing gradual decentralization, protecting the PoG engine through a distributed oracle network and providing greater transparency for all core stakeholders. This oracle network and the KGeN store are both powered by KGEN tokens.

![Let gamers prove: how KGeN redefines user acquisition])-img.panewslab.com/yijian/2025/4/2/images/9f42cdfd99147521ae28e8acf186a0ff.jpeg(

) 4.1 Grassroots Growth

The core of KGeN's growth lies in its grassroots tribe and tribe leader network, which is also key to its continued expansion in the Global South. The tribes represent thousands of micro-communities that have joined the KGeN ecosystem. As of December 2024, KGeN reported a total of 2,525 tribes, of which 152 tribes have more than 100 members.

The tribe is one of the core ways KGeN promotes user acquisition based on recommendations. Tribe leaders earn points by inviting up to five tribe members and having them complete at least one task. This incentive-driven funnel mechanism has proven to be very effective, with approximately 1.7 million KGeN accounts verified through KYC acquired via tribes.

KGeN's largest market currently is India, thanks to the company's origins and its strong influence in the microgaming community in the region. However, more than 30% of independent active wallets and transactions occur on Kaia, which is the proprietary blockchain of the LINE messaging application.

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. This usually marks the beginning of the user journey and will become the main portal for users to interact with the platform while they build their own PoG reputation score.

KGeN Play can be accessed through the PC portal or mobile application. When the account is created, the system will automatically create a blockchain wallet in the background to store all of the user's assets and non-tradable player reputation NFTs.

The task activities are divided into K-Drops and K-Quests. Both are limited-time participation events with a limited number of rewards for participants including K-Points, achievements based on the leaderboard, K-Cash, or tokens. K-Drops provide automatic real-time verification through endpoint API integration, while K-Quests are conducted through a manual verification process.

4.3 PoG engine

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

The five core pillars are divided into "Human Proof" ( PoH ), "Game Proof" ### PoP (, "Skill Proof" ) PoS (, "Business Proof" ) PoC (, and "Social Network Proof" ) PoSN (.

The PoG engine currently consists of over 270 million data attributes, sourced from over 13 million registered accounts and 4.4 million MAUs. Since January 2024, the PoH, PoP, PoS, PoC, and PoSN communities have grown by approximately 214%, 1320%, 777%, 384%, and 487%, respectively.

Using the PoG engine, KGeN is leading an alternative UA framework called "Effective Customer Acquisition Cost" ) eCAC (. KGeN does not charge for simple displays or top-of-funnel installations, but only charges for active users who reach the middle or bottom of the user funnel.

![Let gamers prove: how KGeN redefines user acquisition])-img.panewslab.com/yijian/2025/4/2/images/38a787e3a9ffc523dbe881b8df742ffd.png(

) 4.4 KGeN token economy

The economy of KGeN will consist of two core assets: KCash and KGEN tokens. KCash has been online for a while, primarily serving as an off-chain asset for reward currency, but it can also be directly purchased with fiat currency. The main use of KCash is to make in-app purchases, buy gift cards, or participate in VIP tournaments and tasks in KStore.

The KGEN token is a utility token that drives the growth flywheel of the KGeN ecosystem. The community allocation accounts for 40%(, with 8% unlocked at the token generation event ), and the team and investors have a four-year lock-up period. A total of 12.6% of the total token supply will be unlocked at TGE.

rKGEN airdrop activity. The rKGEN allocation is based on the total amount of K-Points held by the user, the time spent on the platform, and relevance. Once the token is launched, rKGEN can be converted to KGEN tokens at a 1:1 ratio.

![Let gamers prove: KGeN how to redefine user acquisition]###