This is about World of Warcraft (yes, that World of Warcraft!), specifically, its brand new expansion - Burning Crusade.
But not about the game itself.
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My brother -he’s in Korea now- is a huge fan of video games. He prefers console but also enjoys lots of pc games, especially the ones of the Blizzard. A couple of days ago I had a chance to chat with him and heard interesting news about Burning Crusade, a new expansion of WOW.
I already knew that the beta service for the expansion became available in North America and Europe at Jan 16. The Blizzard actually mentioned that 1.7 million gamers accessed to the Burning Crusade at the first day! That’s more than half of total number of WOW users of North America!
Even though Korea is *physically* small country, it sure is one of world’s most important markets for online games, in terms of the number of users, accepting new technology, and fast feedback. So usually most game products or new services from international companies become available shortly after they are released in their own country. Oh well, or sometimes even at the same day, of course.
The Burning Crusade was also supposed to be available at Jan 19 in Korea but my brother said the service had been suspended for 2 weeks and finally became accessible just now. He seemed so upset because this sort of delay is unexampled happening so far. The important point is that actually it was not due to the error of the service itself but because of that the Blizzard’s careless business. The company announced the schedule without full understanding of media rating law of Korea and then postponed the service date at the last minute - right after Korea Media Rating Board (KMRB) noticed its new expansion did not take required rating process in the right way. (According to my brother, some insiders reported more negative things like Blizzard didn’t even observe the rules from the first step of releasing the new expansion this time. I really have no idea about this but I could see the heated mood at least.)
I’m not going to explain about the specific law in detail now. But it looked strange enough: there was no case like this –I mean, delayed service because of not following law- and the Blizzard has been dealing with Korean market for a long time! Considering that there always have been complaint about the Blizzard’s unfair pricing and misc service policies upon Korea, this happening made me think a little bit heaviER about political matters of game market and business. It can be considered as one small example of a sort of arrogance against international market.
Or, am I just being aggressive now?
1 response so far ↓
1 Garrison // Feb 6, 2007 at 12:28 pm
You quite rightly point out that there is so much to talk about with regard to Korea and Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games [MMORPGs, often pronounced “mor-pegs”]. For example, how has government-subsidized diffusion of broadband across the penninsula encouraged participation in the games? Does the KMRB directly parallel the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board)? I.e., is it an industry-sponsored attempt at self-regulation? How are global software companies, like Microsoft, Blizzard, and EA, coping with “localized” moral and ethical norms in the face of global, digital distribution?
This is an issue today within the EU itself, as Germany takes a leadership role in legislation. Germany, of course, is more aggressive in its legislation of public and private discourse than neighboring states. Read the article “Germany seeks common EU rules on violent video games.”
The web offers a wealth of data on particular changes to games, but, not surprisingly, has little to offer in terms of thoughtful reflection. Still, essays like this one, on subtle changes in Nintendo software across national borders, are fascinating.
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