When you think of South Korean gaming, you think of PC bang (net cafes) and people playing online games.
But over the years, the PC bang biz has become increasingly cut throat. Since they're so easy to establish, there's been a rapid spread of PC bang across the country. And since players only need to plop down only 1,000 ~ 1,500 won (US$0.84 to $1.27) for an hour of play, they make razor thin profit margins.
But with the release of Diablo III, more and more Korean gamers are making their way to PC bang, playing the game before deciding to buy it. More games playing for longer periods of time is good for the PC bang scene.
Korean new site Hankooki reports PC bang are getting a boost because of Diablo III. No wonder the game is taking the top spot on the country's net cafe game rankings by grabbing 40.3 percent of the net cafe pie (coming in second was League of Legend at 10.99 percent).
According to Green IT, the total time spent playing Diablo III in Korean PC bang is currently 14.58 million hours.
But it's not only PC bang that are swimming in Diablo III's wake. Computer parts and accessories are up as players get their machines ready for the game. Price comparison website Danawa noted that hard disk drives and VGA sales are up over 30 percent.
What's more, PC sales at retailer Lotte Mart are up nearly 30 percent compared to the same time last year. Until this past April, PC sales were up only 3.3 percent. Computer sales have been so good at Lotte Mart that the retailer recently started to increase the size of its PC game section.
Jongsu Chang contributed to this report.
디아블로3 열풍, 죽어가던 PC방도 살렸다 [Hankooki]
디아블로3 PC방 순위 '초토화' [GreenIT]
(Top photo: grafica | Shutterstock)