Electronic Arts targets Korea

Electronic Arts Inc., a global video game developer and publisher, will enter Korea’s online game market. The company’s Korean subsidiary said yesterday that its new game “FIFA 2005 Online” will be released only in Korea. “Our company saw how popular online games were in Korea and so we are experimenting. From headquarters’ perspective, Korea is a very important game market,” said EA Korea president Han Soo-jung. Originally FIFA could only be played by buying a program and installing it on a PC or playing it on a PlayStation or Xbox platform. An online game, however, does not require full installation, and is played by accessing the Web site. In Korea, the online game market is the largest in the world, with titles such as Lineage and Mu developed initially to be played on the Web. EA Korea said that it plans to continue developing online versions for major future game releases in Korea such as the title “Medal of Honor.” It will collaborate with domestic game developers to convert the game to operate on an Internet basis. The California-based company announced last week that it is counting on sales of online and mobile phone games to help it reach its target of $2 billion in annual revenue in Asia by 2010. Korea and China are its main targets. by Yoon Chang-hee, Wohn Dong-hee