Hundreds of new games are released each day in the mobile game market. It is an extremely crowded market. It is not easy to survive without differentiation. Crispy Soft is a mobile game startup drawing attention in the global market on the strength of that differentiation.

Crispy Soft, led by CEOs Junyeop Kim (김준엽) and Sanggeun Cha (차상근), surpassed 1 million downloads worldwide with its story-based simulation game 'Raising an Exam Candidate', aimed at getting into university. In Taiwan, where it entered last month, the game drew attention after reaching No. 1 on the App Store at the time.

CEO Junyeop Kim said, "To reach people who consume mobile game content, you need clear differentiation." He explained, "All content Crispy Soft makes must, first, be something users can love and, second, be something we ourselves feel is fun."

One of the values Crispy Soft emphasizes as a game developer is clear. It is to make fun games on topics others do not make well. That philosophy stood out in 'Raising an Exam Candidate'. The game, with a fresh theme, has logged 1 million downloads worldwide since its release. It is currently available in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. It ranked No. 1 on the App Store when it entered Taiwan last month, and the company plans to expand service to English-speaking countries within this year.

'Raising an Exam Candidate' is a mobile admissions simulation game in which players choose a character, give the character a name, and have the character study, exercise and work part-time while taking on the college entrance exam.

Depending on the exam results, players apply to actual departments at universities in South Korea and Japan. If accepted, they receive a student ID in image form that can be shared on KakaoTalk, and share it with friends.

◆ Building technical capabilities including an in-house story production engine

Crispy Soft was founded in 2022 under the name 'Yeopcha Yeopcha' and changed its company name last year. It has grown rapidly over the past 3 years. Junyeop Kim cited not only creativity but also technical capability and organizational culture as the company’s strengths.

The founders had already written a paper on game development structures while they were university students and won an award at a university student thesis competition. They registered a patent for an architecture called the "DAMA structure" that resulted from that work. It is also noteworthy that the company has developed and uses its own story production engine so that non-developers can easily create content.

Junyeop Kim said, "Crispy Soft’s strengths are its technical capability, culture, and the way the team develops through them." He said the company pursues a young, horizontal culture, a free culture based on responsibility, and a culture that seeks efficiency. He explained that having talented people stay and grow within the team ultimately becomes a major strength for the company.

External assessments are also positive. Since launching its product, Crispy Soft has won top prizes including the grand award at the COMMAX X Hanyang University Venture Startup Competition and the top prize at Hanyang University’s startup club competition. More recently, it was selected for the '2025 Startup-Centered University Startup Club Program', promoted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation and hosted by Hanyang University, and is being evaluated as showing strong activity results.

◆ Pre-registrations for new title 'Raising a Job Seeker' top 10,000

Crispy Soft developed several game prototypes last year and plans to release some of them this year. One game the company expects from the lineup is 'Raising a Job Seeker'. Following the college entrance exam simulation game 'Raising an Exam Candidate', it effectively adds a game about raising a job seeker preparing to enter the workforce.

Junyeop Kim said, "In the case of 'Raising a Job Seeker', more than 10,000 people have already signed up for pre-registration even without special marketing." He added that the company is also developing several creative games, including a new title called 'Project-T'.

Crispy Soft has set its ultimate goal as growing further with fans as a mobile game developer. If 'Raising an Exam Candidate', currently available in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, expands to English-speaking markets this year, the company expects its global stage to broaden along with it.

Crispy Soft’s vision does not end with game development. Starting this year, it plans to begin research into developing a technology-based B2B solution to innovate the game and marketing industries. For this purpose, it completed filing related patents early this year and plans to step up research and development.

Kim said, "While solidifying our position as a game development company, we want to pursue various business models over the medium to long term." He said, "If we build up a lot of experience through growth, I want to help really well-made games be properly evaluated by the public through publishing, and if necessary, I want to grow into a company that can make investments directly."