South Korea is known worldwide as a hotbed of PC gaming, where professional gamers have been earning a living for over a decade competing in many popular games. Thousands crowd PC cafes to play games for long hours, and top gamers are as well known as TV actors or pop singers. The gaming scene has long been dominated by RTS games Starcraft and Warcraft 3, as well as a massive number of MMORPG players. There’s been a major change over the past few years, though.
Gamenote reported the figures for the current Top Ten most-played games in South Korea right now, and the big surprise is the absence of RTS games on the list. Riot’s League of Legends takes the top slot, with EA’s FIFA Online 3 in second place. As you might expect, MMORPG’s make up half the list, with a new MOBA (Cyphers) and the oddball Dungeon Fighter Online keeping things different.
The stunning development is the complete absence of both Starcraft and Warcraft 3 from the list they once dominated, and Blizzard’s only entry is World of Warcraft, barely making it into the Top Ten. Blizzard will have to work hard to get back into the top ten, or introduce some compelling new games.
1 League of Legends (MOBA, free-to-play, Riot Games)
2 FIFA Online 3 (MMO, free-to-play, Electronic Arts/Nexon)
3 Sudden Attack (Online Multiplayer FPS, free-to-play, Nexon)
4 Lineage (MMORPG, free-to-play, NCsoft)
5 Dungeon Fighter Online (Multiplayer side-scrolling arcade action, free-to-play, Nexon)
6 Blade & Soul (MMORPG, free-to-play, NCsoft)
7 Aion: The Tower of Eternity (MMORPG, free-to-play, NCsoft)
8 Echo of Soul (MMORPG, free to play, NHN Entertainment)
9 Cyphers (MOBA, free-to-play, Nexon)
10 World of Warcraft (MMORPG, time pay, Activision/Blizzard/Nexon)
Source: Games in Asia
