The mobile Blade and Soul spin-off Blade and Soul Revolution launched in South Korea earlier this week and quickly took the #1 spot as the highest grossing mobile game on iOS. Netmarble, the game's developer, had to expand server capacity 4 times already to accommodate the millions of users rushing to try the game. Unlike most mobile spin-offs, Blade and [...]
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South Korea takes boosting in video games pretty seriously. The government passed a law this week that makes 'Boosting', artificially increasing a player's skill ranking by getting a more skilled player to use an account, illegal and punishable by fines up to $18,000 and up to 2 years in prison. People often purchase 'boosting' services from more skilled players to [...]
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PC gaming may have been overshadowed by mobile at this year's G-Star in Korea, but Nexon offered us a few bright spots. Of the three PC titles Nexon's showcased, Dragon Hound is the newest and perhaps most exciting. A Korean language interview with the game's director last week gave us the first details on this upcoming title, and thank's to [...]
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NCSoft announced a rather interesting class for their fantasy MMORPG Aion this week. While we only have the official Korean name of 채화성 so far, English sources have unofficially translated the class name as 'Graffiti Artist'. It's certainly a fitting name based on the trailers! The new class is modeled after the Bard template so will be a powerful support [...]
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7 years and 100 billion Won (~$88 million USD) later, Lost Ark finally entered Open Beta Testing in South Korea on November 7, 2018. Smilegate, the company behind Lost Ark, has announced that they are targeting 'more developed countries' such as North America and Europe for their next launch phase. Usually China proves to be a more alluring next-step for [...]
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How many hours a day did you spend playing video games when you were a kid? If Tencent's new policy is any guide towards China's emerging gaming regulations, the likely answer to that question for future generations will be precisely '2 hours.' Earlier this week Tencent, China's largest gaming company and the owner of international hits like League of Legends, [...]
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Valve's Steam platform has emerged as an unexpected beneficiary of China's sweeping video game approval freeze. While Steam was never officially approved in China, it hasn't been officially censored either. The gray space the platform occupies has made it an attractive refuge for both Chinese gamers and developers who have grown frustrated with the ongoing game approval freeze which domestic [...]
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China's gaming industry is in for a long winter, as the ongoing embargo on new game approvals by the Chinese government is now predicted to last another 4-6 months. After a recent list of official "recommendations" were sent to various regulatory bodies in China, which included guidelines such as more stringent approval processes and limiting the number of game licenses, [...]
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After the Star Wars Battlefront 2 lootbox controversy came to a head last year, the Belgium Gaming Commission had launched an inquiry into whether lootboxes offered by SW:BFII and other popular games such as Overwatch and CS:GO were in violation of Belgium's gambling laws. Having concluded the investigation earlier this year, the BGC found that EA, Blizzard and Valve were [...]
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With the ongoing government shake up that has led to the continued freeze of game approvals in China, the Chinese government has issued an official notice regarding the new proposed regulations around the gaming industry. With recommendations sent out to 8 different regulatory bodies, the government is rallying a concerted effort with the aim to reduce myopia rates in children [...]
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