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'The heyday of South Korean games exports...is now over'

A new report in the Financial Times goes into detail about a declining South Korean game industry, in the face of intense competition from China and the U.S.

Kris Graft, Contributor

August 29, 2016

1 Min Read
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"The heyday of South Korean games exports due to development and monetization expertise is now over."

- Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS Markit in the Financial Times article

A new report in the Financial Times goes into detail about a declining South Korean game industry, in the face of intense competition from China and the U.S.

The decline is notable, as just a few years ago, the Korean game industry was a dominant factor in the Asian market, pioneering free-to-play monetization models with online games on PC, namely MMORPGs from companies like Nexon and NCsoft.

But the global market's shift to mobile has left Korean game makers behind, with Chinese companies exhibiting a keen ability to find success on phones. Meanwhile U.S. companies like Blizzard and Riot Games, with Overwatch and League of Legends respectively, have taken a chunk of Korea's homegrown PC-based business.

Check out the details in the Financial Times report, "South Korea gaming groups struggle to fend off China" (sub. req. or access via Google news search).

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