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.
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.
Table of Contents
- METHODOLOGY
- INTERNET AND PC USAGE
- Internet Usage
- Usage Patterns
- Reasons for using Internet
- Internet Shopping
- Instant Messenger
- Blogging
- Households with PC / Information Devices
- Broadband Usage Rate
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- OVERSEAS EXPANSION PLANS
- CRACKDOWN ON WEB BOARD GAMES
- NEW TITLES IN THE PIPELINE
- RECESSION AND THE GAMES MARKET
- UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE GAMES
- GAME PORTALS
- KOREAN GAME OPERATORS
- CJ INTERNET
- NEOWIZ
- NEXON
- NCSOFT
- NHN
- GRAVITY
- SOFTWARE PIRACY
- PC BANGS/INTERNET CAFES
- BILLING AND PAYMENT SYSTEMS
TABLE OF FIGURES
- Figure 1: Key Country Metrics
- Figure 2: Internet Usage Rate by Age (Rounded %)
- Figure 3: Internet Users by Age (in millions)
- Figure 4: Purposes of Using Internet (multiple responses, %)
- Figure 5: Internet Shopping Usage (ages 12 and over)
- Figure 6: Purchase Items by Internet Shopping (multiple responses)
- Figure 7: Instant Messaging usage Rate by Gender and Age
- Figure 8: Purposes of Using Instant Messaging (multiple responses)
- Figure 9: Blog Usage and Ownership Rate by Gender and Age
- Figure 10: Households with Information Devices (multiple responses)
- Figure 11: The Rate of Households with (Wired) Internet Access
- Figure 12: (Wired) Internet Access Type of Households (multiple responses)
- Figure 13: Online Games Market Forecast 2007-2011 Graph, $m
- Figure 14: Online Games Market Forecast 2007-2011 Data Table, $m
- Figure 15: Top Online Games at Internet Cafes, June 2009
- Figure 16: Top Internet Sites in Korea (Unique Visitors, Reach)
- Figure 17: Top Game Sites by Visitors
- Figure 18: Top Game Application by Unique Users
- Figure 19: Comparison of Korea' s Top Four Game Operators (KRW, billions)
- Figure 20: Revenues and Net Income of Top Korean Game Operators
- Figure 21: Netmarble Metrics: Unique Visitors, Paying Customers, ARPU
- Figure 22: Upcoming titles from CJ Internet
- Figure 23: Screenshot of Prius Online
- Figure 24: Ads for NBA Online
- Figure 25: Neowiz' s Revenues & Net Income 2001 to 2008 ($US)
- Figure 26: Pmang Metrics: Monthly Visitors, ARPU, Peak Concurrent Users
- Figure 27: Revenues by Title
- Figure 28: NCsoft Q4 2008 Revenue Mix by Geography
- Figure 29: Screenshots from Lineage 3
- Figure 30: Search Engine Market Share Korea
- Figure 31: Screenshot of Hangames
- Figure 32: Screenshots from Ragnarok II Online
- Figure 33: Piracy Software Rates in South Korea
- Figure 34: Internet Cafe Interior
- Figure 35: Payment Methods for Internet Content, market share (%)
| 
