2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

an easy level, which players can enter in order to become familiar with the rules and interface before 

engaging in a cash competition. 

F. 

European Product Perspective 

The European download market is not as mature as the North American one. Therefore, preferences, 

behaviors, and motivations on the consumer side are not yet as rigidly structured. Furthermore, as a 

recent Nielsen/NetRatings study

7

 shows, while women represent 52% of US Internet surfers, European 

Internet usage is primarily male surfers (58%).  

G. 

Asian Product Perspective 

Early casual web based games in Asia tended to be more 2 D in nature, focusing on simple card, board, 

or quiz game type formats. This is very similar to current mass market web games popular in the US and 

Europe today. In 2003 as Asian developers entered into full 3D game development, casual games went 

along with it, becoming full fledged online arcades with free gaming around space invader type shooters, 

fighting one and one, race car themes and even first person shooters such as Doom and Quake. Sites 

are largely free for players and wins and losses are tabulated for each user account, allowing consumers 

to gain additional prestige on a ladder board, or cyber cash for successful wins. 

The Market for Casual Internet Games in South Korea 

Written by John Lee, Turbine Entertainment 

2003  was  a  landmark  year  for  online  gaming  in  South  Korea.  Total  market  size  broke  the 

$1 billion  USD  barrier  for  the  first  time,  dominated  by  online  gaming  which  took  a  total  market 

share of 40%. Arcade and PC packaged product market share fell sharply, due to the continued 

popularity  of  PC  cafes  versus  traditional  coin op  arcades  and  rampant  PC related  piracy. 

Depending  on  forecasts  by  different  research  firms  and  the  Korean  government,  the  wide 

consensus  is  that  online  gaming  will  continue  to  grow  to  a  lion's  share  of  the  Korean  gaming 

market, mostly at the expense of the PC packaged goods and coin op arcade markets. 

The  key  difference  in  2003  for  Korean  online  game  players  was  their  success  regionally  in 

exporting  their  content  and  the  shift  to  what  locals  consider  the  3

rd

  generation  of  content, 

characterized by the following milestones: 

First Generation: 1997 to 2000 

2D isometric perspective games such as 

Lineage

, 

Redmoon

, and 

Kingdom of the Winds

. Online 

gaming  had  yet  to  show  its  mass  market  promise  in  Korea  and  was  restricted  to  hard  core 

gamers weaned on MUD games during the mid 1990s. 

Second Generation: 2001 to 2002 

Partial 3D (3/4 view) perspective games such as 

MU

, 

Lagheim

 and the advent of casual online 

gaming such as 

Fortress, Crazy Arcade

, etc. Mass market uptake domestically began to spike, 

but  attempts  by  Korean  gaming  companies  to  go global largely failed with the exception of the 

Taiwanese market.  

Third Generation: 2003 to present 

Full  3D  perspective  games  released  by  over  a  dozen  developers,  with  an  estimated  40+  in 

development  for  release  in  2004.  Korean  games  dominate  the  Chinese  online  gaming  market, 

7

 http://www.nielsen netratings.com/pr/pr_010628_au.pdf 

Page 17 of 93