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South Korea's Free Computer Game Business Model Hits the US

Posted by Soulskill on from the nickel-and-dime dept.

Anti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from AFP via Yahoo! News: "Seoul-based 'free-to-play' computer game titan Nexon on Wednesday blasted into the US videogame arena with a 'Combat Arms' online first-person shooter title that makes its cash from optional 'micro-transactions' by players. The game makes its money from players that buy animated helmets, outfits, emblems or other virtual items to customize in-game characters. To keep the battlefield even, players earn experience or advanced weaponry by skill so people essentially can't pay for power. ... Startups and established game makers including Japanese goliath Sony are venturing into the free computer game market, according to DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole. 'It looks like it could be very big,' Cole told AFP. 'It's one of the things everybody seems to be looking at. The challenge is it is a very new model and it remains to be seen whether customers used to a free model will be tight when it comes to actually spending money on it.'"

3 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Not nearly the first by neostorm · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nice. This article forgets that there are tons of free-to-play MMO's already available in the US.
    Knight Online
    Fly For Fun
    Granado Espada

    And lets not forget our own domestic free-to-plays, such as Guild Wars, Minions of Mirth, Graal Online and the like.

    Here's a great resource for all of these- http://www.gameogre.com/

  2. This is old news .. by Saffaya · · Score: 4, Informative

    Every MMO to appear in Korea for several years now have been based on the Free-To-Play model.
    Even those who were launched on a subscription one migrated to it, forcing their western licencees to do the same.

    Example :
    _RF Online (CodeMasters dragged their feet but had to accept the free to play model)
    _Granado Espada aka Sword of the New World (K2 Networks wanted a hybrid system, but had to change to a pure free to play one)

    Even legacy power house Lineage 2 from NCsoft is heading towards a cash shop item addition to its subscription based model.

    More recent ones like Perfect World are free to play from the start.
    To sum up :
    Free-to-Play IS the de facto business model in asia, and has been for years. The western licencees also are bound to use free to play.

  3. WOW so many bad facts by Foo2rama · · Score: 4, Informative

    www.k2network.met Has been bringing in Free to play microtransaction games into the US for awhile like 3 years Warrock an FPS and Sword of the New WOrld... Hell even Nexon brought had one like 6 years ago in the US with Shattered Galaxies. As for Virtual markets... EQII runs it own, and even UO had a strong real money economy going.

    --


    ---In a time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey.