Staff reporter
The advent of real-time strategy game StarCraft greatly boosted the country’s high-tech industry around 10 years ago. Presently, all eyes are on its sequel, which was commercially released worldwide last week.
Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of the popular game, expects that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will positively affect Asia’s fourth-largest economy, similar to the first installment ― called the ``economics of StarCraft.’’
``Powered by three-dimensional graphics and various features, StarCraft II is likely to rack up success comparable to that of the original StarCraft. Responses by gamers so far are pretty good,’’ Blizzard Entertainment Korea spokesperson Yoon Ji-yoon said.
``We expect that the second installment of StarCraft will continue to spark the local online gaming markets just as its predecessor did in the past decade.’’
Indeed, the debut of StarCraft in 1998 sent the nation’s gamers into a frenzy, prodding them to snap up personal computers and peripheral devices en masse. This helped computer makers stay afloat in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.
StarCraft also played a major role in the flourishing of the country’s unique Internet cafes, otherwise dubbed PC Bang where folks can get access to high-speed Internet for a fee of about $1 an hour.
PC Bang came to town in the mid 1990s but spread across the country thanks in no small part to StarCraft, the unprecedented mega hit here whose sales amount to upside of 7 million copies.
Currently, about 20,000 PC Bang are tucked into practically every spare sliver of real estate to lure millions of people into the realm of science fiction strategy every day. StarCraft is still one of the most loved games here.
In addition, StarCraft tournaments continue throughout the year televised by local TV around the clock with about 10 teams competing and sponsored by big corporations in such fields as mobile telephony, gaming and shipbuilding.
Yet, there exist pessimists who paint a negative picture on the prospects of the much-awaited StarCraft II, with its price at 69,000 won for unlimited access, 9,900 won for one month and 2,000 won for a single day.
``The consensus is that StarCraft is mostly responsible for the 3.5 trillion won online game market in Korea. It deserves the praise of the economics of StarCraft in Korea,’’ Daewoo Securities analyst Kim Chang-kweon said.
``In contrast, the performances of StarCraft II have been disappointing despite the huge marketing efforts of Blizzard Entertainment. Even if it is slow to start, things are different now compared to 10 years ago. Back then, there were few games available but now we have a bunch of alternative online games. As a result, I do not expect another economics of StarCraft this time around.’’
스타크래프트2, 다시 대박칠까?
10년 전 실시간 전략게임 스타크래프트의 발매는 한국 첨단산업의 발전에 큰 공헌을 했다고 할 수 있다. 지난 주 전세계적으로 발매된 이 게임의 후속 작이 최근 많은 관심을 받고 있다. 스타크래프트2:자유의 날개의 제작사인 블리자드는 10년 전 그랬던 것처럼 한국에 소위 “스타크래프트 경제효과”라는 이름으로 긍정적인 영향을 미칠 것으로 보인다.
블리자드 코리아 윤지윤 대변인은 “3D그래픽 및 다양한 특성을 탑재한 스타크래프트2는 원작 못지않은 성공을 거둘 가능성이 큽니다, 게이머들 사이에서 반응이 아주 괜찮습니다”라며 자평 했다.
사실 1998년 스타크래프트의 발매는 게이머들로 하여금 PC와 주변기기에 대한 구매를 부추겼고, 결국 컴퓨터 제조업자들이 IMF위기에서 살아남을 수 있게 도와줬다. 스타크래프트는 또한 한 시간에 1000원 정도의 가격에 인터넷을 즐길 수 있는 PC방의 탄생에 지대한 역할을 했다.
또한 스타크래프트의 경기는 인기리에 TV방영이 될 정도로 열기가 대단했다. 스타크래프트2의 발매에 부정적인 시각을 가지기란 쉽지 않을 것이다. 하지만 대우증권 분석가 김창권씨는 “10년 전에는 게임이 별로 없었지만 지금은 스타크래프트를 대체할 만한 수많은 온라인 게임이 있습니다, 스타크래프트2가 예전과 같은 경제효과를 기대하기는 힘들 것이라 예상됩니다”라고 말했다.
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