PM Studios Mike Yum Interview LVL UP Expo 2025

I may not have heard about PM Studios, but I heard about the game that I had in the production. Last weekend, in the LVL UP EXPO of Las Vegas, publishers and developers for new and approaching games of many partners and partner studios, including YOOKA-Replylee, Dragon is Dead, Pipistrello, Table FLIP Simulator and last year's black mythology last year. Hosted a large play area featuring demos.

During the Expo period, I have been successful with physical release in the history of game development and distribution, with the PM Studios founder and CEO Mike Yum.

Thegamer: Can you give a small history lesson of PM Studios?

Mike Yum: Of course, I started this company 20 years ago. As a developer, I made a game called DJMAX. I was published directly because I couldn't publish the game. The game has begun. It was the best seller of PSP in Korea next to MONSTER HUNTER, and the company took off and we started working for employment. We made a Barbie game, but it was not really happy to do it.

And finally, when Vita came back, Sony asked if we could reboot DJMAX for Vita. I started to help them because there were many friends who could not publish their games. Then they talked to their friends and led to racing games, RPGs and action games. We worked differently. Since we are from the retail background, we have the ability to carry out retail distribution for other publishers and developers. We have many joint publications and distribution for many companies and many games.

TG: Okay, so there are three different types of arms of the company. There are development, publishing, and partner publishing and distribution. Did you always have three things?

hmm : We have all three things for a while. The reason we do not see our name is that we do not put our brand in front of the package because we provide a lot of white label service. I emphasize the developer and we are men behind the scenes. I think word of mouth has spread because many people know what we are doing. Black mythology is probably one of the big people who have realized who we are. But we have been doing this for a long time.

TG: It is a compromised game group. All I have to play this weekend had a very different experience. Do you think there is a brand in PM?

hmm : Sadly, may not be. Our biggest problem is that we think of CAPCOM when we think about game fights. RPG, you think of Atlas. Sports games, many people think about EA. So we will just like the game. There is no strict focus on any genre, so you can see family games, cooperative games, action -RPGs, action games, and first -person shooting games. It is a lot of indie games, and we are trying to see all the games and see if we can help the group. We try to help everyone and help everyone.

TG: Is there a game developed singular in an in -house that has not partnered with other studios?

hmm : Yes, we still develop our own games. Now, we have a game called Dragon IS died from the internal team. Through the game, many of us were rhythm game developers, but I liked Diablo 2 and did not have the function of performing downward 3D full action -RPG. So we are good at 2D sprite. Let's make 2D Diablo. And that game.

I met a developer. He renovated the game called Roshpit Champions for DOTA, and I was convinced that we had to make a standalone game. Now we are creating ROSHPIT CHAMPIONS 2. Evolutionist is another game that met developers a long time ago. They tried to kick starter and I took it because I asked me to be a producer of the project. And we have been developing this for almost five years. Our goal takes a long time because it is to draw everything by hand.

TG: I think I have a really good eye to choose a project. How is that process?

hmm : I'm just a big gamer. I played a lot of video games, and I competed. I am a completeist, so I still get 100 %of my achievements in many games. There are over 300 platinum trophy in PlayStation. I play a lot of games. I know that I think I can work, or I know something new that I have never seen for a long time. Like our game table flip simulator, we saw an arcade game that overturned the table long ago. You actually literally turn the table from the arcade. We thought we should reproduce that for this new audience. We try all kinds of unique things.

TG: When you see what you like, do you have a completely formed idea of ​​what you can do with it?

hmm : Yes, I am. Perhaps I don't like the game, but the other team actually likes it. We have a process that they can actually fight for the game. So it is almost the same as the developer is pitching to us, but in fact, one of our own men thinks why this game is effective for us. I did not want to be the only person to choose a game, so everyone said. These days I want to be a green light man. As a group group, it must be on everyone. But if I meet people like Playtonic Games and have the opportunity to work with all competitors who worked in Banjo-Kazooie, it is like a given. I really wanted to be part of it.

TG: But I think that much of your publication reflects your taste.

hmm : Yes, but again, more than half of the things you see are not actually going out. Black Myth: Wukong, I knew it, and of course I liked it. But it was a lot of team members to keep pushing, pushing, and fighting for that project.

TG: The physical distribution seems to be more difficult. How has it changed because digital distribution has become most markets?

hmm : Four years ago, it began to change a lot, but it changed from about a year and a half to two years ago. You can think like a mobile market that anyone can post and post on digital marketplace. The video game market is completely flooded. We have thousands of games at once. So everyone is almost dead. I couldn't do well when everyone said last year that he released a game at STEAM. And now everyone is closing.

But when you see the sleeve, not everyone can put it there. Not everyone can release it in the console. To announce something, you need certain expertise and resources, so it is a bit cue. This product is a small market that is a little more difficult, so I did better because there is no competition. Go to Target or Best Buy to display 30 PlayStation games, 40 switch games. It is much easier to attract customers in the store when we are on the eshop or PlayStation network. If you don't search, you can't find a game.

TG: Interesting. If you go to Gamestop or Target, all boxes are the same size. They are all on the walls, but not steam and nintendo, and some games are larger than other games and are not actually controlled.

hmm : Yes. If you are not a big publisher, there is no visibility. The relationship with our sleeves give us a chance. You can put a trailer in the store and hang a poster.

TG: So it is like a collector and lover who is interested in the flesh.

hmm : There are several markets there. There are many hardcore gamers who refuse digital purchases. You are buying many moms and dads [physical]. And a casual workin who is looking for a game when buying a system.

TG: I think I started to be more interested in having physical things about my favorite games.

hmm : I think it's important because it's a different experience. A friend can borrow it. I borrowed the game at school to meet my best friend and then borrow the game. It is now related to physical copies. You can still trade it and get another game. Later, you may really want to play it again, but if you don't have an internet connection or the PlayStation network is reduced, it doesn't interfere with what's going on. I think real games are still important.

TG: Do you want to make sure that's being kept?

Yum: I'm doing my best. All companies that work with us or ask for help do our best to support them. I think you will probably see a lot of news from us, especially after black mythology.

TG: I imagine a very good physical thing.

hmm : Yes, I hope you can disclose that number. But they are very private and I respect it. But I and all retailers, partners and retailers are still very healthy. I received a lot of calls after Christmas and the New Year thanked me and saved their business. There are many territory. In certain countries such as Spain and Italy, they were hit hard and did not know why. There is still no high -end Internet technology, so you do not download 100 GB byte discs because you pay per data. Where the bandwidth was low or slow, I was waiting for the actual copy of the game.

Check out the preview of the upcoming game of PM Studios in LVL UP Expo this year.