From a Small Coffee Shop to a Mobile Game Powerhouse: The Story and Success of PATI Games (part 1)

Creating games is one of the trickiest ways to create a successful business. A friend who worked in the Korean gaming industry once told Alan Lee that if he were to get enough capital to start a business, he would rather start a bakery than a dev studio. A dev studio was much more likely to fail than a bakery, he said, even though he knew quite a bit about games, and almost nothing about baking. Alan didn't know it then, but he would one day disregard this advice with spectacular results.

 

Alan at EA

In 2010, Lee was busy working full-time at EA in the International Business Division while running his own business, a small chain coffee shop, in Korea.  Alan came from a relatively well-to-do family, went to a good school, and never had to take on menial jobs to support himself. Owning a coffee shop was Alan's ideal way for Alan to go outside his comfort zone and interact with people from all walks of life.

Few would voluntarily work in food services, citing long hours, crippling debt, and constant stress over paying bills, but Alan enjoyed it immensely. When Alan left the office, he could be seen brewing coffee, mopping the floors, wiping down tables. It was a stark contrast to his comfortable office job and wealthy upbringing,  but Alan loved interacting with customers, loved running his business, and loved his humble coffee shop. His customers were appreciative and curious about his work, often stopping Alan while he was mopping or cleaning to ask him about the finer details of running a coffee shop.

Alan at Hollys

It was from this experience that one of the idea was born. Alan witnessed the rise of social gaming while at EA and at first doubted the potential due to many barriers these games ran into prior to the rise of Facebook games. But with the successes of a few cafe/restaurant management style games he knew he could do better.

Some called it a long shot, but Alan gave it a lot of thought and didn't decide on his idea lightly. Coffee, he argued, was something that had a true international identity. It was not hindered by cultural barriers or differences... all nations and cultures around the world understood coffee. The universality of the Starbucks brand was proof enough - from its iconic cup of steaming coffee logo, to its distinct interior design, to its customer service. All people love coffee. All people know what it is.

Alan reached out to his old classmate, Taehyung Lim, a game industry veteran who was working on Nexon's Maple Story. Mustering all his powers of persuasion and his passion, he managed to convince Lim to join him as CTO along with another Nexon coworker, Jungsub Shim, as CDO. The three of them began brainstorming excitedly about the prototype and the company they would eventually build. In January 2011, they created PATI Studios.  

Pati Studio Logo