Games We Play
First is this article from the Economist Invaders from the land of broadband about the success of online gaming (as in games played online, for UK readers) in S. Korea. As if the South part needed spelling out.
The second is a headline $18mn investment by Highland and Polaris in to Turbine Entertainment here via VentureWire.
Third, I have been following SeeStorm for what seems like forever. Started out as an add on to IM and has morphed in to an avatars for mobile licenser. It seems to be taking off in Korea and Japan, having (very) limited success in Europe and absolutely none whatsoever in the US. I thought long and hard about investing in 2002 and was, rightly, rebuffed by my partners. I have been thinking long and hard about the same in 2003 - but to be honest don't have the guts. For those of you interested its worth researching potential revenues from low ARPU mass appeal apps on mobiles in Korea. They don't exactly make a company but they will make you smile as you build one.
The reason is that each region and, as the Economist article points out, countries within each region use mobiles / PDA's / smart phones / PC's and gaming devices differently. I used to think it was enough to be platform agnostic but its more subtle and harder than that. Furthermore, who ever thought that 3D virtual environments would ever make a comeback - which is what the Korean gaming world is all about.
There is definitely a gold mine to be made for the person who can work out what it takes to make this happen. What is absloutely certain is that what works in Japan, will only just work in Korea (S), will fail abysmally in Europe and won't even do that well in N. America. And that's just the means of delivery. The game, the nature of the game will have to be very specific.
To my mind this is a steer clear investment area unless your ability to connect with your eyes closed is very good.
15 December 2003
Games We Play
First is this article from the Economist Invaders from the land of broadband about the success of online gaming (as in games played online, for UK readers) in S. Korea. As if the South part needed spelling out.
The second is a headline $18mn investment by Highland and Polaris in to Turbine Entertainment here via VentureWire.
Third, I have been following SeeStorm for what seems like forever. Started out as an add on to IM and has morphed in to an avatars for mobile licenser. It seems to be taking off in Korea and Japan, having (very) limited success in Europe and absolutely none whatsoever in the US. I thought long and hard about investing in 2002 and was, rightly, rebuffed by my partners. I have been thinking long and hard about the same in 2003 - but to be honest don't have the guts. For those of you interested its worth researching potential revenues from low ARPU mass appeal apps on mobiles in Korea. They don't exactly make a company but they will make you smile as you build one.
The reason is that each region and, as the Economist article points out, countries within each region use mobiles / PDA's / smart phones / PC's and gaming devices differently. I used to think it was enough to be platform agnostic but its more subtle and harder than that. Furthermore, who ever thought that 3D virtual environments would ever make a comeback - which is what the Korean gaming world is all about.
There is definitely a gold mine to be made for the person who can work out what it takes to make this happen. What is absloutely certain is that what works in Japan, will only just work in Korea (S), will fail abysmally in Europe and won't even do that well in N. America. And that's just the means of delivery. The game, the nature of the game will have to be very specific.
To my mind this is a steer clear investment area unless your ability to connect with your eyes closed is very good.
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