starcraft said:
I wasn't aware of this if this is the case. But that said, is the home console market in South Korea big enough to matter yet? I would have thought the primary reason for MS wanting a presence in SK would be the similar to the reason they keep throwing money at Japan: developer relationships. |
A few weeks ago i moved to korea, and after looking around and talking to people it seems gaming is changing rapidly in Korea. It used to be only PCs just a few years ago, but DS is massive here. DS is hitting every age group, hardcore and casual gamers here in Korea. The problem is that probably 80-90% of the sales are be being taken by the R4. Keep in mind the game boy was not popular in the past. Most games have not been translated in Korean because they can't make money when they are all getting pirated.
I was actually shocked that the 360 was as popular as it is. Once i thought about it though it made sense, games like Halo 3 are exactly what Korea likes to play. I see commercials for Metroid Hunters on TV all the time. I don't know if there is a way to steal 360 games easily like with the R4 but i wouldn't be suprised if they were doing it. Last time i went to the movie theatre there were several huge kiosks for the 360, that's when i started to ask some people if the 360 was popular. I was suprised to find that it's more popular than PS2, Wii, or PS3.
BTW if you go to an arcade in Korea about 60% of it is made up of shooting games like house of the dead or time crisis.
Still, many people in Korea go to PC cafes to play consoles rather than buy the consoles themselves. Consoles are bigger than they have ever been in Korea, but they've got a long way to go. If Koreans want to play all their games in Korean they need to actually buy them rather than steal them all.
BTW starcraft battle chest still sells for $50+, i thought that was funny.
currently playing: Skyward Sword, Mario Sunshine, Xenoblade Chronicles X
