Psy comes to Crossy Road in huge, Korea-focused update

Crossy Road is a huge mobile hit, earning its makers over $10 million in revenue as of March of this year. The game now has over 90 million players across all platforms worldwide. How do you top that?

You partner with Korean pop star Psy.

It was a natural fit. "When Crossy Road first launched, it hit #1 in Korea almost immediately and stuck there," Henry Fong, CEO of publisher Yodo1 told Polygon. "Psy is a character recognized all around the world and has a fun dance vibe."

It's hard to wrap your head around how big of a star Psy is internationally, but knowing that his videos are so popular they broke YouTube's view counter helps. His live shows are fun to watch on YouTube; the crowds are both huge and enthusiastic.

The update will be free, but the Psy character will cost $2.99 and will be available for three months. The update will focus on Korean culture and characters, and will shake the play up in some interesting ways.

We wanted to do something really special for the Korean Update and thought incorporating Psy and his dance mode would not only have global appeal, but also add an entirely new game mode, complete with a re-designed scoring system, leaderboard, and traffic-dodging-dance tactics," Fong said.

The update will also explore Korea's gaming scene. "We wanted to reflect the strong 'gamer' culture in Korea with the Pro Gamer character," Fong said.

"Playing with this character allows you to experience what it's like to have your own personal hop-by-hop gaming commentary (in Korean), adding an exciting edge to game play. The most obvious addition to the game will be Psy’s completely new dance mode, 'crossydance,' which relies upon an entirely different rhythm and pacing to earn a high score. It’s really about finding the right balance between speed and patience, and mastering these two principles will help improve your high score across the entire game."

The update is available now, worldwide. You can watch the gameplay footage below.