‘League of Legends’ dominates Korean game market

Real-time online strategy genre gaining popularity, outsmarting online RPG titles


“League of Legends,” a real-time online strategy game, is the undisputed frontrunner in the fiercely competitive game industry in South Korea, with role-playing titles such as “Blade & Soul” and “Diablo 3” following right behind in the rankings.

According to the chart for the second week of September released by Inven, a local website which offers weekly game rankings, League of Legends held on to the No. 1 slot for the seventh consecutive week after retaking the throne from “Blade & Soul” in the last week of July.

“League of Legends,” developed and published by the U.S.-based game company Riot Games, is highly acclaimed at home and abroad as it combines elements from real-time strategy and role-playing games. During 20-40 minute game sessions, players choose their character from the roster of more than a hundred Champions, each with unique abilities and attributes, to compete with other players or the computer’s artificial intelligence. Such game style is called “AOS” (Aeon of Strife) and is now considered as a new game genre.

“League of Legends,” also known as LOL, also became the new “mainstream” game in the e-sports scene. Korea’s leading gaming TV channel Ongamenet launched a professional game league called “League of Legends: The Champions Summer 2012” and drew much interest among Korean game lovers.

Blizzard Entertainment’s “Diablo 3” is the sequel to “Diablo 2,” one of the most popular hack-and-slash role-playing games in the world. It was the most-anticipated game in the first half of this year as thousands of Korean gamers gathered at its launch ceremony in Seoul, braving the rain and forming a long line that generated strong media attention. Right after its release, the PC-based online title dominated the local gaming rankings in May and June.

However, “Diablo 3” struggled to retain its players following a series of negative developments such as technical glitches and hacking attacks that stole users’ email addresses.

To turn around the game’s sagging popularity, Blizzard Entertainment released a sweeping update in late August, including the new game system called “Paragon System,” which allows players to reach 100 additional “Paragon” levels even after they reach the top level of 60. Thanks to the updates, “Diablo 3” recovered some of its lost popularity.

“Blade & Soul,” the latest multiplayer online game developed by NCsoft, is another hit title in Korea. The game boasts beautifully detailed game characters along with a wide range of customization functions, as well as a brand-new action system depicting various skills of martial arts. Thanks to such rich functionalities, the game won popularity among Korean gamers and held the first place of the ranking list in July.

The game’s dominance did not last long as its players found it short on enjoyable game content. To deal with the complaint, the developer announced an update coming up later this month, which will offer new instant dungeons as well as an improved balance among different character classes.

Co-developed by Korea-based Neowiz Games and U.S.-based Electronic Arts, “FIFA Online 2” is the only sports game that made it to the top rankings. It has been favored by many soccer game fans who want to compete with others through online networks. Its sequel, “FIFA Online 3,” is set to debut on Sept. 20 and is expected to steer gamers from the previous version.

The latest ranking list shows that “League of Legends” is much favored by Korean game players and the preference for online RPG games remains the same. Five online RGP games are listed on the top 10 rankings, while the popularity of “League of Legends” shows no sign of abating as it extends its No. 1 position for seven straight weeks.

Game experts say the game is gaining popularity thanks to its unique system that allows players to generate new content, strategies and fun for themselves in the course of playing the game. “Such characteristics of the AOS genre are the biggest difference to other role-playing games like ‘Diablo 3’ and ‘Blade & Soul,’ which are both under fire for a lack of fresh content,” a product manager at a leading Korean game developer told The Korea Herald.

He said the concept of “F2P” is now deemed the key to success in the local gaming industry. F2P, or “free-to-play,” refers to games or applications that allow players or users to use the service without paying. In games which adopted the F2P strategy, players can enjoy most of the basic game functions free of charge. “The fact that ‘League of Legends’ is free to play fascinated many gamers who want to spend less time and money in building up their game characters,” the industry insider added.

Nonetheless, players are encouraged to spend money to get better items or premium services as a way to enrich their gaming experience. Once hooked to such F2P games, players find themselves buying one virtual item after another, as they feel the overall cost is lower than other subscription-based game titles.

F2P is also applied to social network games, which depend on services like Facebook and Kakao Talk. According to the Inven’s mobile game rankings, more Korean smartphone users prefer playing social network games such as “Tiny Farm,” “Rule the Sky” and “Anipang the Puzzle.” In particular, “Anipang,” a puzzle game developed by local developer Sundaytoz, has recorded more than 5 million downloads until now, thanks to the huge popularity of the mobile instant messenger Kakao Talk, which has 60 million subscribers.

“Simple and easy user interface is another reason for the popularity of social network games,” said Cho Hyun-jin, 24, a Seoulite who has played several social networking game titles using her smartphone.

Among the social network games she has ever played, Cho picked “Rule the Sky,” developed by JCE, as her favorite. “Since new content such as decorations and items are regularly updated, I could continue to play and use new content without paying extra fees,” she said.

By Yoon Sung-won, Intern reporter
(swyoon@heraldcorp.com)