Out of thousands of game developers in Korea, it is currently difficult to profit in the domestic market due to the massive number of competitors.  Thus many of them are turning overseas. Recently, Joymax’s popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Silkroad Online® has been a hit in Turkey. With over 20 million registered players worldwide, this WOW-like RPG game has now become a national game for the Turks.

SRO (Silkroad Online) is a 3D third person style action MMORPG game, set in the 7th century AD Silk Road between Europe and China. Featuring realistic cities that existed in ancient Silk Road to visit, SRO is highly relatable fantasy game for the Turks. With free-to-play service and non-repetitive yet addictive game play, SRO has attracted PC gamers globally. There are three notable factors behind SRO’s success overseas.

Joymax’s keen timing on releasing SRO to the global market has certainly been essential. Over the past seven years, the Eastern Europe and the Middle East have vastly expanded their internet market, increasing their internet usage up to 1400%. With this epic transformation, the internet based digital entertainment industry has been blooming. To capitalize on this factor, Joymax launched a global version of SRO. This led to a staggering success. Now SRO alone makes up 84% of sales for Joymax, 94% of which comes from the SRO global version.

SRO’s success in Eastern Europe is also largely due to Joymax’s unique marketing strategy. It is true that Joymax was not alone in the competition. Turkey for example, with a population consisting over 70 million people and having 28% of them being under 14, is any game distributor’s goldmine.  While other competitors were distributing games though licensing and creating localized servers, Joymax has distributed SRO through GDS (Global Direct Service). GDS simply is like a portal site such as Yahoo or Google, it lets anyone in the world to access the server in Korea to play the game. This not only increases net profit for Joymax but also reduces the risks in going overseas. The different approach by Joymax is what makes them stand out in global gaming industry.

But why Turkey? How did SRO capture millions of young minds in Eurasia? The answer is in SRO’s game style. Joymax wanted to create a game that is highly relatable both in Europe and Asia. Aside from formulating a realistic back-drop of ancient Silk Road, SRO includes traditional Turkish outfits for the game characters, game monsters based on ancient Egyptian figures and special events based on Islamic religious holidays. With this multicultural faceted game play, SRO creates a familiar yet mystical world for gamers in Europe and Asia. I mean who could resist but to play a fantasy game based on a history they know?

Although Joymax holds total of only 1.22% in online gaming market share of Korea, its global impact is jaw dropping. Today the traditional way of spending leisure time is becoming history in Turkey. With membership increasing by 6% and sales 30% every month, it is safe to say that SRO is one of the number one ways to spend spare time in Turkey for many. With the release of the Turkish version of SRO on November, 17th 2009 and many other upcoming language upgrades, Joymax plans to attract millions of more players globally. Joymax’s SRO is sign of success in the global gaming markets for Korea and there is certainly much more to look forward from Korea’s gaming industry.

Clockwise: Sudden Attack, Dungeon & Fighter, Counterstrike Online: Zombie, Freestyle

It is no news that Korea has been a market leader in production and distribution of online games. Korea’s online games are known to be highly adaptive, addictive, and profitable. With its efficient production model and long term revenue model from recurring user fees, it stands quite competitive against console games which have been the dominant game form for decades. Already vastly popular in Japan, US, China and other Asian countries, Korea’s online games have also been increasingly gaining ground in Europe and South America. Hence Korean games make up more than 50% of the total online gaming market.

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Within Korea’s online game Mecca, there are also those games that take the spotlight, those gamer’s favorites that have been ceaselessly on the top spots.
The most Popular Online games in Korea Top 10 for 2nd week of May are:
1. Sudden Attack                                      - FPS
2. Dungeon and Fighter                             - Action RPG
3. Aion: Tower of Eternity                          - MMORPG
4. World of Warcraft                                  - MMORPG
5. Maple Story                                          - MMORPG
6. Fifa Online 2                                         - e-Sports (Soccer/football)
7. Freestyle                                              - e-Sports (Basketball)
8. Lineage                                                - MMORPG
9. Counterstrike Online: Zombie Scenario   - FPS
10. Lineage 2                                           - MMORPG

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This ranking is from Game Meca  Online Games, which is based on the game awareness and game access traffic data aggregated from popular search portals, PC game room access time, online gaming traffic data, game website visitors, and Game Meca user rankings.
As you can see most of the games are categorized amongst one of three forms, FPS (First Person Shooter), MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online role play game) and e-Sports (electronic sports). It is no secret that Korea has been a leading nation of online multiplayer games, but these games have been refusing to give out their top spot for months!

MMORPG games such as Aion, WOW, Maple Story and Lineage seem to be filling up most of the spots on the list. However, maintaining the #1 slot consistently for over a year is ‘Sudden Attack’, a free-to-play multiplayer first person shooter online game. I had introduced it in as earlier article for its placement of celebrity characters such as Rain and Jessica Gomez to further promote its game attraction.

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eSports also seem to be also gaining more ground. ‘Fifa Online 2’, the online football games has always been in the leading spot, making headlines as a representative strategic collaboration between Korea’s number one game company Neowiz and the world renown software producer EA(Electronic Arts). And with the upcoming World Cup 2010, Fifa Online 2 can expect more attention to its way. However, for games such as ‘Freestyle’, the multiplayer online basketball game is one of the only games to recently make its way on to the top 10 list, going up four spots from the previous week. Also another e-Sports game, Pro Baseball Manager has made it a huge leap over eleven spots to hold its place on #12 this week.
It appears like FPS, MMORPG and e-Sports games are going to remain on the forefront of Korea’s online gaming industry, the apple of the eye for Korean gamers, and likely to continue stirring the interests of international game developers.

Last year CJ Internet, Korean online game publisher and developer, launched a new style of MMORPG, “PRIUS Online“, with its catchphrase of “It’s the first emotional fantasy MMORPG in my life.” Five months after it was open to the public its export contract volumes are now reaching to tens of millions of dollars, which are seen quite impressive.

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“PRIUS Online” is a MMORPG that distinguishes itself from other MMORPGs by its emphasis on fantasy and emotional factors within a play. Seeking to find ways to embed the factors in the game CJGS, CJ Internet Game studio, created 3C(Character) system where a gamer has his/her own character, a little girl “Anima” who is a soulmate as well as an assistance, and a large Gigas summoner.

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.Among the characters “Anima” plays the biggest role in making the game reflected in its concept of emotional fantasy. She is not just a pet gamers used to have when playing other MMORPGs. “Anima” has lots of potential abilities gamers should harness in order to win the game, but whether gamers can use it or not depends on their treatments on her. It’s because the degree of intimacy gamers exchange with her will decide the types of her abilities. In doing so the character “Anima” has gamers feel like playing a upbringing simulation game such as “Princess Maker” while actually playing a MMORPG.

I think it is obvious that CJ Internet’s “PRIUS Online” has come to market with a fairly fresh concept, and it has been making a success especially in exporting. But, gamers’ responses to the game varies considerably. So, it might be better for you to try the game before judging whether the game is well made or not.