Asia and the online games it
plays By Tony
Sitathan
SINGAPORE - The online gaming
subscriptions market in Asia is set to surpass US$1
billion by 2005 with growth mostly coming out of China
and South Korea, according to a recent estimate by
international market researchers, International Data
Corp (IDC). The IDC report, which was bullish on the
rapid growth of online gaming especially in China and
South Korea, said that China is expected to surpass
South Korea in becoming the largest online gaming market
by 2007, worth in excess of $510 million, and
contributing more than one-third of the total revenue
subscriptions to the online gaming industry in Asia.
Online gaming was first offered at no cost by
software-shareware houses and game designers, but as it
has slowly gained popularity over the years, players are
now prepared to pay a monthly subscription fee to play
these multi-player online games: massive multi-player
online role-playing games or MMORGs, as they are called,
online games that take into account the multiple-user
experience.
With the global market for online
games expected to hit $15 billion by 2005, according to
global consulting firm Accenture, countries such as
Singapore, Malaysia and India, as well as Hong Kong,
also intend to take at least a small piece of this
lucrative pie. However, the effects of online gaming now
are being called into question. While playing these
games is seen largely as a harmless activity, critics
worry that too much time spent on online could become
harmful and lead to addiction, and in some places, a ban
has been placed on the amount of time players can spend
online.
The online gaming phenomenon is driven
by an earlier boom in broadband penetration rates, which
ranks high among online gamers in Asia, especially in
more mature broadband markets like Singapore, Taiwan,
Hong Kong and South Korea. It is estimated that the
homes of most online gamers in Asia will be switching to
broadband connections that improve the connectivity
speed and the bandwidth required for playing online
games.
Right now Internet cafes and public
Internet terminals are providing broadband access due to
the drop in price and in an effort to complement the
drive toward online gaming. "This pick up in broadband
is due to declining broadband access prices. And the
rapid adoption of even public Wireless Local Area
Network [WLAN] access in countries like South Korea,
Hong Kong and Singapore has further accelerated the
online gaming boom," said Andrew Taylor, a consultant
from Axiom Consulting based in Hong Kong. Singapore is
considered the third-largest WLAN subscriber market in
the Asia-Pacific region behind South Korea and China.
Its mobile operators have aggressively launched hundreds
of wireless hotspots in recent months and are promoting
cable-free Internet access as a value-added service.
In its report, the IDC also maintained that the
Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, will see revenue
growth for online games increase 19 percent annually
until 2008 and will exceed $1.84 billion in subscription
revenue by that year. The report also said that South
Korea currently is leading the Asia-Pacific region with
$397.1 million in subscription revenue last year. It is
followed by China, with $159.7 million, and Taiwan, with
$170.4 million in subscription revenue. However, China
is the one to watch, as its online gaming market grew
almost 46 percent in 2003, and within the next two
years, MMORGs (massive multi-player online role-playing
games) are expected to dominate its online gaming
market.
Because MMORGs highlight the
multiple-user experience, one game may support millions
of users globally. To cope with such demanding real-time
multi-player requirements, games have large data centers
in multiple locations worldwide that are backed by
smaller country servers.
So why are these online
games gaining popularity? Because, contrary to their
description, they are often simple, easy to learn and
allow players to interact with others online, forming
teams and building communities based on similar
interests.
One of the first online games that
quickly gained popularity in South Korea, and quick
acceptance in Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and
even Japan, was Ragnarok Online. It is created and
marketed by Korea-based Gravity Interactive, and
currently supports a host of Asian languages. It now has
more than 800,000 subscribers to date in the
Asia-Pacific region.
Despite initial
expectations, Ragnarok Online is not too complicated or
difficult to play. Players start off as novices and
wander through imaginary lands to gain experience points
and pick up valued items by killing monsters. At the
same time, they interact with others in real time though
a chat screen and work as collaborative teams. After
gaining enough experience, players can upgrade their
skill level and join one of six job classifications:
archers, acolytes, merchants, thieves, magicians or
swordsmen. As an incentive, they then sell hoarded
artifacts to merchants in exchange for currency, which
can be used to purchase weapons and magical potions to
help them complete their quest.
Maniratnam 22, a
student from Singapore and a self-professed Ragnarok
Online addict is confident that games like Ragnarok
Online are just the beginning of the online gaming
experience in Asia. "We will see more Asian games being
developed similar in style to popular online games like
EverQuest and Diablo that have an international
following. Although there has been some negativity
associated with such role-playing games, online gaming
has helped build communities of similar interests where
real people interact, chat and exchange ideas," he said.
Although online role-playing games are mostly
seen as a harmless activity, the amount of time spent
playing these games is considered by many to be harmful.
Thailand for instance was concerned that too much time
was spent by teenagers on these online games and decided
to enforce a ban on online games from 10pm to 6am daily.
Local and overseas servers there were blocked
indefinitely for a few months last year, and there are
calls to repeat the ban this year. While psychologists
talk about the ill effects of addiction to online games
and psychiatrists highlight the deprivation of direct
human contact through such games, the gaming community
has countered this by citing online gaming
community-building over the Internet and saying it is
less harmful than drugs and other forms of addiction.
Regardless of the effects, according to a survey
conducted by IDC last year, the popularity of online
gaming in Asia is rising and has topped online buying.
The IDC survey of 3,600 Internet users from six Asian
countries, concluded that in China and Malaysia the
number of online gamers outnumbered online shoppers by a
ratio of two to one. South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong
and India are following.
But for some,
particularly Singapore, contributions to the overall
gaming scene are still a drop in the gaming ocean. In
order to build up some critical mass, which Singapore
lacks due to its small population, the Infocomm
Development Authority (IDA) there has launched an online
Games Bazaar.
As an incentive to get more online
game content developers hooked to the online Games
Bazaar concept, it is offering to defray up to 80
percent of hosting charges during the first six months
of signing up. However, it remains to be seen if this
subsidy is indeed sweet enough for online gaming
developers to even consider taking the first bite.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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