Asia Express - Consumer Electronics
Consumer Electronics - Korean Gaming Market Growing
June 17, 2005
The majority of Korean gaming companies experienced growth in revenue in 2004. NcSoft had a revenue of 250 billion Won (US$246.67 million; US$1=1,013.5 Won), an annual increase of 50.1%. Nexon's revenue for 2004 stood at 111.2 billion Won (US$109.72 million), annual growth of 69.3%. Gravity experienced annual growth of 94.6%, increasing its revenue to 72 billion Won (US$71.04 million). Webzen saw a standstill in revenue growth, maintaining the same revenue as in 2003 with 57 billion Won (US$56.24 million). Hanbisoft was one of the few big gaming companies to see its revenue decrease. It had a revenue of 36 billion Won (US$35.52 million). Looking at exports of Korean online games, shipment value in 2002 stood at US$776.1 million. In 2003 this number grew to US$1.52 billion, and in 2004 it reached US$2.5 billion. It is forecasted that shipment value of online games exports will be US$3 billion in 2005.