Blizzard’s Overwatch Debuts In Korea’s Top 3 While League of Legends Is Top 1

According to data from Korean gaming market researcher Gametrics and a report at Koreatimes, Blizzard Entertainment’s new first-person shooter (FPS) “Overwatch” had an 11.7 percent market share, surpassing Nexon’s “FIFA Online 3” at 5.9 percent. Overwatch is drawing heated popularity from gamers in Korea, becoming the third-most-played computer online game Wednesday, the day after its release.

As the new title has already achieved Blizzard Entertainment Korea’s goal, expectations are high on “Overwatch” posing a threat to longstanding popular online games Riot Games’ “League of Legends” and Nexon’s “Sudden Attack,” currently in the top two spots. “League of Legends” broke a record in the Korean gaming market last week as it held the top spot for the 200th week with a share of over 34 percent.

“Our goal with Overwatch in the Korean market is to make it placed in the third or a higher spot in the chart of most-played online games at PC rooms here,” said Kim Jung-hwan, managing director of Blizzard Entertainment Korea. “In the domestic online gaming market, top-ranking titles have remained solid for a long time and it is difficult to topple their dominance and thus I think being included in the top 3 is meaningful. I believe we can do better.”

Blizzard Entertainment provided an open beta service globally for one week ahead of the launch of “Overwatch,” drawing more than 9.7 million users, which is a record-breaking number for the company. In Korea, the game ranked fourth on the most-played chart.

“Overwatch” is Blizzard’s first game that does not provide offline single player mode. Players need to connect with others and form teams to play the game. For this reason, Blizzard Entertainment Korea has stressed that it will tap into the nationwide PC rooms as one of the main distribution channels for its new titles.

Source: Koreatimes