Webzen and Gravity, two of the leading online gaming companies in Asia, are gearing up to bring their "Lord of the Rings"-type multiplayer games to a worldwide market.
About 80,000 US gamers are already trying out Gravity's feudal fantasy "Ragnarok," according to the company, which has introduced the game in Brazil, Italy, Turkey and 13 other countries.
Not to be outdone, Webzen estimates that 40 million registrants hold temporary or recurring subscriptions for its online game "Mu" in China and South Korea, with an average of 500,000 people playing it at any given time.
"We will also try to acquire some US companies," said Namju Kim, Webzen's chief executive and founder, adding that game play will begin in the United States in a few months. The company's stock started trading on the Nasdaq last December and has a market value of more than $300m (£165m) today.
The industry's numbers are still relatively small, but they're growing quickly. Gravity pulled in $50m in revenue with $13m in net income for 2003. This year it expects its revenue to reach $70m with earnings of $35m. Webzen expects similar growth from 2003 to this year. It has predicted its revenue to increase from $48.7m to $64m and a rise in operating profits from $27.8m to $36.3m.
The seemingly overnight emergence of online gaming serves as a successful case study in South Korea's drive to strengthen its flagging economy with new technologies. An unprecedented program to build a national broadband network has provided the fast Internet connections required for online gaming to thrive. The digital pastime has, in turn, created new businesses looking to meet the demand for more products.
More than 28,000 gaming parlours operate throughout the country, according to various estimates -- one for every 1,700 residents. Three cable TV channels are dedicated exclusively to covering tournaments and how-to shows on games like Blizzard Entertainment's "StarCraft," a real-time strategy game not unlike the Milton Bradley analogue classic "Stratego."
Talkback
SK's government support of broadband penetration has a lot to do with this.