July 22nd, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh
I've revised my former paper on PC bang and Korean internet/gaming culture. I hope that it would be helpful to someone interested in this subject.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=975171
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July 10th, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh
Since 1997 when financial crisis had hit South Korea, the life of middle-aged office workers has been rarely peaceful. Many middle-aged men were laid off from their jobs. It deserves noting that the condition for employment had been fairly similar to that of Japan before the crisis. Most people considered their jobs as life-time ones til their retirement. The economic crisis had destroyed job stability of normal Koreans.
Another big change in Korea around 1997, as is well known, was the fast spread of broadband Internet, and consequently online gaming.
The cartoon by a Korean artist compounded these two social changes in imaginative way. It is both humorous and sarcastic. In a sense, it revealed a part of understanding on online gaming in Korea. I proudly introduce this cartoon with my translation. Enjoy it!
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June 26th, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh
Hi! Longtime no see. I was a little bit busy, but most of inactiveness was from my laziness. Now, I'm back.
On July 25th, SK Communications(SK Comms.), the company behind the Cyworld, was merged to the Empas, the 3rd place search engine in Korea. Actually, this action was intended to do backdoor listing of SK Comms because Empas was already listed in Korean stock market, KOSDAQ. The meaning and the prospect of this merger is not the issue here. With this merger, more detail information about SK Comms. was finally uncovered. The interesting part for you may be the revenue proportion from selling virtual assets at Cyworld. See following table.
Selling virtual assets, as expected, is the largest part of the business of SK Comms. The Cyworld is a living proof for the potential that the micro-payment model has in many kinds of SNS services, not only in online games.
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April 9th, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh
Internet and online gaming is one of industrial area that Korea has a strong competitive edge. It is natural that the companies could also do well outside their motherland, because they had much secret know-how in many respects. But the truth seems to be somewhat different.
Following table shows financial performances of Korean Internet/online gaming companies. As you can see, in spite of big investment for overseas markets, most of companies didn’t get satisfactory results yet.
Some caveats
1. Original source in Korean is from here.
2. Data were taken from financial reports and business reports of individual companies.
3. Data of Nexon was not obtainable, because Nexon Korea has no obligation to submit the actual results of the parent company, Nexon Japan to the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea.
What made the results? One easy answer might be cultural differences among regions where services/games are being provided. This, however, cannot be fully explanatory in that the performances in regions with similar cultural background were not so good, either.
Another is the faster catch-up of foreign competitors than expected. What was once thought to be a big secret is a common sense of the business at now. A worldwide success of Blizzard is only the beginning of a huge following-up wave. Competitive edge that Korean companies have enjoyed is definitely waning out.
Anyway, is there any strategic failure in globalizing business at Korean side? For last few years, companies have been high for their spectacular successes. The obvious thing is that domestic market is not enough to support stable growth for all. So to speak, There is a symptom of saturation in Korean markets. The lag of Webzen, once one of champions at Korean online gaming, is just a part of the story. It might be time to wake up not to be left behind.
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March 20th, 2007 Jun Sok Huhh
If you would refer this paper seriously e.g. for academic purpose, contact me via anarinskATgmailDOTcom. The abstract is following:
In this paper, I seek to explore culture and business of PC bang (PC room) in
South Korea (hence forth Korea). As an integral component in the culture of Ko-
rean online gaming, the PC bang has only recently gained academic interest. A
PC bang is distinctive from Internet cafe in that it puts much more emphasis on
online gaming. Evolved from a convenient spot for high-speed connection, the PC
bang has become a space for facilitating and nurturing online gaming cultures.
This paper addresses two cultural specificities of PC bang. Firstly, as a space that
nurtures the negotiation of offline and online relationships around online gaming
cultures in Korea and, secondly, as a site for the emergence of MMORPG play-
ers. In respect of business, the collaboration and coordination between PC bangs
and game publishers has been a key part for Korean online gaming. A specialized
pricing policy for PC bang different from an ordinary flat subscription had made a
better business environment both for game publishers and PC bangs. Recently, the
conflict caused by the micro-payment business model of free-to-play online games
made the former cooperative relationship disturbed.
For downloading full-text, go to http://ssrn.com/abstract=975171.
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