South Koreans are well-known for their passion for competitive games, so much so that they have pretty much proliferated the whole concept of eSports from the Brood War days and with League of Legends securing a large chunk of the South Korean player-base in iCafes’ it has become the Mecca of this particular title.
Seems now things are about to change with notable Blizzard FPS shooter Overwatch taking on League of Legends for the most-played title in Korean PC-bangs. While some folks may prefer playing other games like card games or some of the popular classic past-times-turned-digital like play bingo online, the gaming market in the South Korean peninsula is notable for their highly aggressive and competitive nature, a highly-documented fact as seen in numerous occasions.
Stats from PC-bangs (Korean PC cafes) show that Overwatch and League of Legends are swinging around with a 1% lead over the other based on day-to-day metrics but reports have indicated that Overwatch is quickly rising in userbase in the region and with competitive mode rolling out in testing in Korea, its only a matter of time before the gaming beast of the east sets its eyes on the new hit game for PCs right now.
Korean PC-bangs allow users to access all Blizzard games without the need to purchase them thanks to deals with Blizzards between the cafe owners. Whenever someone logs-in their Battle.net account from a PC-bang, they automatically gain access to all Blizzard games including paid titles such Overwatch, Diablo III, and Starcraft II or subscription-based MMORPG World of Warcraft. This helps explain the rising userbase without the buying power as most Korean PC-bang start at only 80 cents per hour.
