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South Korean games market

Online games market grew by more than 20% last year.

San Francisco, CA, July 15, 2009 - Market research and consulting firm Pearl Research forecasts the online games market in South Korea grew more than 20% in 2008.

These key findings are contained Pearl Research's new "Online Games Market in Korea" study.

Highlights from the study:

- South Korea has one of the highest personal computer (PC)

ownership rates worldwide with an 80% adoption rate.

- The top five game operators in Korea in 2008 are NHN (revenues up 51% year-over-year); Nexon; NCsoft (revenues up 5% year-over-year); Neowiz (revenues up 29% year-over-year), and CJ Internet (revenues up 21% year-over-year). The robust revenue growth for these game operators, despite an economic downturn, demonstrates the resilience of online games in Korea.

- Top online games include NCsoft's Aion and Lineage series, CJ Internet's Sudden Attack, EA's FIFA Online 2, Nexon's Dungeon and Fighter and Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

- The majority of Korea's titles operate on a free-to-play basis, with users purchasing virtual items. Ironically, the worldwide economic downturn has not affected this business model as much, as these virtual items are small-ticket items.

While South Korea has a robust online games market, critical challenges include intense domestic competition; a government crackdown on web board games; lack of capital for smaller publishers; and rising development costs.

The "Games Market in Korea" report provides an in-depth analysis of the Korean online games market and contains an executive summary; 2008 to 2014 forecasts for the online games platforms; inhibitors and drivers to growth; deep marketplace analysis; discussion of key market players, and strategic conclusions.

About Pearl Research

Pearl Research, a business intelligence and consulting firm, specializes in the Internet and technology markets with a special focus on emerging markets and platforms. Based in San Francisco and China, Pearl Research publishes in-depth research reports and provides customized research and consulting services. Visit http://www.pearlresearch.com or call 415-738-7660 for more

information.

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Contact

Allison Luong

Pearl Research

research@pearlresearch.com

PH: 415-376-7310

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