Com2uS's Kyu Lee wants to see more risk-taking and innovation from studios

• Kyu Lee from Com2uS talks about how the games industry is changing and how AI and transmedia IP are presenting both new challenges and opportunities.
• Com2uS is joining the Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit and PG Connects London on January 19th-20th. Tickets are available now.

While many game studios leverage existing IP from games and entertainment, other media sectors are also traversing into games, resulting in a rising number of cross-media franchises and innovative storytelling.

Someone welcoming this trend is games industry veteran Kyu Lee, the chief business development officer at Com2uS, who is speaking about how his own company has gone from a pure game developer to a transmedia force at the Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit during Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 20th. 

Ahead of the event, Lee shared his experience of the shifting global games market, in particular the growing opportunities in transmedia IP and AI.

PocketGamer.biz: Could you briefly tell us about your company and what you’re working on?

Kyu Lee: Our company Com2uS was one of the first mobile games companies in the world going back to 1998. Since then we’ve launched numerous successful titles like Summoners War and MLB 9 Innings on the App Store and Google Play. 

We now not only support mobile but have expanded into distributing our titles onto Steam, and have been further investing into TV, film, animation, webtoon, and music to deliver our IPs into different formats.

Having experienced some challenging years, do you think we're now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel for the games industry?

Post-Covid there have been market corrections, but gaming has been constantly growing year over year. 

There has been a higher concentration on existing games as live operations have become a major force in growth and as user acquisition has become more challenging. But we are now seeing more and more fresh games targeting new segments of the market which I find interesting.

Looking ahead, what is the biggest challenge and opportunity?

Over the many years, gaming overall has matured significantly without much platform changes. Mobile and F2P has been the dominant force of growing the market significantly in the past decade. 

The market has been looking for changes and I believe AI will be in the centre of all of the changes. This will be the biggest challenge and opportunity depending on how studios embrace it.

What’s one change you would like to see in the industry in 2026?

I notice a lot of fatigue among gamers and I’d love to see more risk-taking and innovation from studios. Traditionally these innovations happen with lower budgets and new technology development. I’d love to continue to see more breakthroughs from smaller agile teams again in 2026.

For the more mature studios, I would love to see them continuing to expand their IPs into different media formats. IPs originating from gaming have become mainstage and I hope to see it continue in the new year.

What are some key takeaways you would like to highlight to the audience at PGC London?

I anticipate lots of chatter around AI and the new Transmedia Summit. I’d like the audience to learn how studios are embracing these new opportunities and wish they build immediate plans to act on it.

Meet and learn from Kyu Lee and other industry experts at Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit, a partner event to Pocket Gamer Connects London, on January 20th. Register your ticket today.