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The State of Korean PC Gaming

Posted by Zonk on Wed Aug 01, '07 02:12 PM
from the where-starcraft-reigns dept.
Games
Gamasutra has up a feature on the world of PC gaming in South Korea, a country well-known for their love of online play. Nick Rumas, the author of the piece, takes us further behind the scenes of a country stereotyped by swarms of screaming StarCraft fans. He looks at what is hot on store shelves, discusses the reality of illegal game downloading there, and walks through the ten most popular online games in the country (StarCraft isn't even #1). From the article: "That, in a nutshell, is where the PC gaming industry in Korea currently finds itself. Physical retail is dead, and while that isn't going to change any time soon, it's a rather insignificant issue, because the online market is the only one that really matters here ... The world of PC gaming in Korea may massively dwarf that of consoles, but Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are engaged in their own little war on the peninsula, as well."

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  • Good read

    (Score:2)
    by moderatorrater (1095745) on Wednesday August 01, @02:26PM (#20075021)
    While there are a lot of obvious things in the article, there are a lot of things I hadn't read before. It's worth reading just to see where America might be going (on the other hand, 'net cafes aren't doing as well around here, so who knows?) Worth giving it a read.
    • Re:Good read by PFI_Optix (Score:3) Wednesday August 01, @03:06PM
      • Re:Good read by moderatorrater (Score:3) Wednesday August 01, @04:06PM

  • Micropayments

    (Score:3, Insightful)
    by jandrese (485) <kensama@vt.edu> on Wednesday August 01, @02:28PM (#20075051)
    (http://www.ceyah.org/~jandrese/ | Last Journal: Wednesday October 01, @02:47PM)
    It seems like being able to spend real money on a game is a big draw for Koreans. While people in the US don't seem very eager to warm up to paying more for in-game content Koreans seem to be all over it. I wonder if it's a cultural thing or just the fact that all of the good games happen to have micropayment stuff tossed in.

    • Re:Micropayments

      (Score:5, Interesting)
      by MMaestro (585010) on Wednesday August 01, @02:58PM (#20075563)
      The reason why people in the U.S. frown upon paying more for in-game content is simply the fact that they recognize the fact that the content is either, A) for appearances only and therefore have no valve towards gameplay or B) gives an unfair advantage towards players who spend more money than other gamers.

      Take a look at games like Gunbound and Maple Story. Both sell in-game content but they only alter your character's appearance. Neat, but nothing the mass market (of MMO players) are willing to pay for.

      [ Parent ]
    • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.

  • Current State

    (Score:5, Funny)
    by MeanderingMind (884641) * on Wednesday August 01, @02:31PM (#20075097)
    (http://matoushin.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday May 24, @10:28AM)
    Not enough minerals.

  • Starcraft could be #1

    (Score:2, Insightful)
    by spocksbrain (1097145) on Wednesday August 01, @02:31PM (#20075103)
    From what I can gather from the article and from the Korean gaming trends... Starcraft would have been #1 if only there was an ability to buy in-game upgrades and items using a cell phone. Such an interesting culture, I'd love to visit there someday. (South Korea, that is)
    • ROK is cool by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Wednesday August 01, @02:55PM

    • Re:Starcraft could be #1

      (Score:5, Informative)
      by vigmeister (1112659) on Wednesday August 01, @02:56PM (#20075525)
      I spent New Year's at Seoul on a 20 hr stopover (flew the 'wrong' way to India to get the chance...) and struggled without knowing the language. Buying food, socks(I was wearing flip-flops because I didn't consider that my stopover between 2 cities at 20C would be at -5C ... hehe) and getting a decent place to put my bags was a challenge, but it was a GREAT experience.

      The hotel room had a TV and they had quite a few 'Gaming Channels' where they showed other people playing games all day. Most of the shows were Warcraft type strategy games, but some of them were FPS tournaments and Racing games as well. Game reviews were sprinkled in between... I didn't watch for more than an hour or so and the shows were in Korean, but I did get the feeling that out of the 6-7 channels only 1-2 could've be anything other than 24hr game channels ...

      The Dongdaemun electronics market was also fascinating from a nerd POV. Few to no pirated games, really cool phones, mp3 players and the like... It was pretty cool except for the fact that I knew I would've been fleeced given the absence of fixed prices and exorbitant tags on the devices on display... I wasn't planning on buying electronics either

      The new years eve celebration itself was fantastic. I managed to get in the centre of the action based on a tip to get there 5 hrs early from a cute girl at the airport (who spoke bad english). The intersection of two roughly 6 lane roads was packed with people in all four directions for about half a mile each way and EACH ONE of them had a firecracker of some sort. Coupled with extravagant dancing and music performances at the square and an hour of organized fireworks (with people's fireworks competing) meant that it was one of the greatest experiences I've had. My hair smelled of phosphorus and sulphur for a couple of days even after about 7-8 shampooing efforts...

      If you wanna go to Seoul, make it ther for new years...

      </nostalgia>

      Cheers!
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Starcraft could be #1 by fbjon (Score:2) Wednesday August 01, @04:46PM

  • Well...

    (Score:5, Funny)
    by Annymouse Cowherd (1037080) on Wednesday August 01, @02:50PM (#20075401)
    (http://doodle77.dyndns.org/)
    Well, everyone in South Korea already has Starcraft, there's no reason any of them would still be buying it :P
    • Re:Well... by Trent Hawkins (Score:1) Wednesday August 01, @04:08PM

  • What? No Mention of Kart Rider or Maple Story...

    (Score:1)
    by Lohrno (670867) on Wednesday August 01, @03:06PM (#20075683)
    Kart Rider aparently is big enough to have televised tournaments. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfjCBZ63HDo [youtube.com]

  • In my experience...

    (Score:2, Insightful)
    by The Orange Mage (1057436) on Wednesday August 01, @03:28PM (#20076039)
    (http://www.maegworks.com/)
    I've found that almost all Korean-made games are either MMO Grindfests that offer no new gameplay (Lineage II) or are free-to-play little online games where they make money by selling in-game items for money that kick the ass of all non-money items. (GunBound, PangYa aka Albatross18 aka Super Swing Golf, etc)

    Essentially they hate MOST games that don't have that MMO element of "time or money spent in/on the game means you're ALWAYS better than the guy below you."

    Super Swing Golf and its online counterpart Albatross18 are actually a VERY nice golf game, though. Think Hot Shots Golf but online. Great course designs and decent friendslist-type things.

  • I've been to Korea...

    (Score:1)
    by BigMike1020 (943654) on Wednesday August 01, @08:23PM (#20079685)
    And I can tell you e-mail is for old people.

  • Focus on online play

    (Score:2, Interesting)
    by everything_X3N (1068036) on Wednesday August 01, @11:21PM (#20081081)
    My roommate is from Korea and he plays StarCraft for many hours every day. How strange it was, then, when I learned that he had never played the single-player campaign at all! Basically, most people in Korea never play single-player video or computer games. They only play games like StarCraft, Lineage II, or Sudden Attack online with their friends. I asked him if he had ever heard of popular games such as Halo, Gears of War, Civilization, Counter-Strike, etc. but he has never heard of any of them. I think StarCraft, Lineage II, and Sudden Attack are the only games he has ever played, but he plays them for at least several hours every day. Very different from the Western hardcore gamer, who typically owns 100's of games.
  • 6 replies beneath your current threshold.

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