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.
Highlights from the 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.
About Pearl Research
Pearl Research, a business intelligence and consulting firm, specializes in the Internet and
technology markets with a special focus on emerging markets and platforms. Based in
San Francisco and China, Pearl Research publishes in-depth research reports and
provides customized research and consulting services.
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