Online Games Market in Korea

Abstract

Market research and consulting firm Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in South Korea grew 20% in 2008.

These key findings are contained Pearl Research' s new “Online Games Market in Korea” study.

• South Korea has one of the highest personal computer (PC) ownership rates worldwide with an 80% adoption rate.
• The top five game operators in Korea in 2008 are NHN (revenues up 51% year-over-year); Nexon; NCsoft (revenues up 5% year-over-year); Neowiz (revenues up 29% year-over-year), and CJ Internet (revenues up 21% year-over-year). The robust revenue growth for these game operators, despite an economic downturn, demonstrates the resilience of online games in Korea.
• Top online games include NCsoft' s Aion and Lineage series, CJ Internet' s Sudden Attack, EA' s FIFA Online 2, Nexon' s Dungeon and Fighter and Activision Blizzard' s World of Warcraft.
• The majority of Korea' s titles operate on a free-to-play basis, with users purchasing virtual items. Ironically, the worldwide economic downturn has not affected this business model as much, as these virtual items are small-ticket items.

While South Korea has a robust online games market, critical challenges include intense domestic competition; a government crackdown on web board games; lack of capital for smaller publishers; and rising development costs.

The “Games Market in Korea” report provides an in-depth analysis of the Korean online games market and contains an executive summary; 2008 to 2014 forecasts for the online games platforms; inhibitors and drivers to growth; deep marketplace analysis; discussion of key market players, and strategic conclusions.