Korean Social (Game) Networks

Without doubt online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular. The technical nature of these websites allows games developers to create casual and light games such as Pet Society and Farmville to be played online directly on those networks. Such social networks are not new to South Korea. In fact [...]

WEBZEN’s Global “MU Online” Beta Test

As announced on Webzen.com a global MU Online beta testing will take place for three days starting from April 28th. To participate this event, sign-up for a free Webzen.com account starting from April 21st. WEBZEN will directly publish the global version of MU Online, via their Game Portal Webzen.com More details about the game can [...]

Korean HanbitSoft to Bring Back “Hellgate:London”

According to Korean game publisher HanbitSoft,the company is interested in continuing Hellgate:London’s services in North America and Europe, as stated on their ‘Game Espresso’ weblog. The Korean company acquired the IP of Hellgate from the American PC MMO developer Flagship Studios years ago. Kee Young Kim, the CEO of HanbitSoft, states: “There have been many [...]

Korean MMO Basketball Game

FreeStyle Street Basketball is the first MMO Basketball Game. It was developed by the Korean company JC Entertainment and initially published a few years ago. However only this March 2009 the internationally hosted new version has been published on their download site and hosting service called Gamekiss. If you like basketball as much as I do, [...]

Korea’s Free Gaming Model (Part 2/2)

Following the first part of this post I am going into some details about in-game advertising and alternative revenue streams that enable “free to play” games. In-game advertising is nothing new. The US company Massive, which was purchased by Microsoft in 2006, provides services to host advertising within videogames. However the placement of adverts is [...]

Korea’s Free Gaming Model (Part 1/2)

Where the US has become the Mecca of basketball through its NBA super athletes, Korea’s super internet technology is making it the capital of online games. Let’s look back down memory lane first. I remember playing Midway’s “NBA Jam” basketball game in 1993 – published by Acclaim. It was my favourite arcade sports game for [...]

Korean Games Industry and its Stable Economic Roots

Today the Q4 results of 2008 are out and a majority of Korean online game portals have announces higher than ever sales figures (NHN and Hangame, Neowiz, CJ, etc…). For the last ten years Korean online portals seem to have successfully cultivated their domestic games market and target audience. Established micro-transaction models appear to be [...]