South Korean fans rejoice as a game’s sequel is announced
NEW YORK: Much of South Korea and gamers around the world spun into a tizzy over the weekend as Blizzard Entertainment, perhaps the worlds most successful video game company, announced that it was developing a sequel to “StarCraft,” its popular computer strategy game.
The original “StarCraft,” which pits humans against two alien races in a science-fiction environment, has sold more than 9.5 million copies since its introduction in 1998.
The game has become practically the national sport for South Koreans under age 40. It has been credited with helping to popularize Internet connections that are far faster than those generally available in countries like the United States.
Millions of young people in South Korea participate in competitive gaming, known there as E-sports, and the country has at least three television networks devoted to gaming (akin to ESPN and Fox Sports in North America). Top professional “StarCraft” players like Hwan Lim Yo are national celebrities on the order of film and pop music idols.
Over the weekend, thousands of fans jammed the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul for Blizzards 2007 Worldwide Invitational “StarCraft” tournament, where the company announced that it was working on “StarCraft II.”
On video game Web sites and message boards around the world, the announcement eclipsed reports about Sonys Gamer Day in San Diego last week and speculation about Nintendos media briefing Tuesday in Seattle.
“We know that the announcement of StarCraft II has all but caused the Internet to explode,” editors wrote at Joystiq.com, a popular gaming blog. “But can you imagine what it must be like in Korea? Seriously, can you imagine? It would be like people in the United States finding out that there was a sequel to American Idol that would also power their cars.”
Blizzard, based in Irvine, California, is a subsidiary of Vivendi of France. In an industry that usually focuses on consoles that plug into televisions, like the PlayStation 3 from Sony and Xbox 360 from Microsoft, Blizzard has built a billion-dollar business on games for desktop PCs.
It has a record of smash hits based on its “StarCraft,” “Warcraft” and “Diablo” franchises.
“World of Warcraft,” the companys online fantasy role-playing game, has attracted more than eight million subscribers (who generally pay more than $10 a month), in a genre where 250,000 users is considered major success.
Blizzard did not announce a release date for “StarCraft II.” Company executives said that the game would not be released this year, but that it would run on both Windows and Macintosh computers.
“We are going to take real-time strategy games farther than we have in the past and farther than anyone else has in the market,” Paul Sams, Blizzards chief operating officer, said in an interview.
Sams declined to comment on speculation among video-game specialists that the company was also working on a third installment of the “Diablo” fantasy action series.
The company is expected to make another major product announcement at its fan fair in southern California in early August.
In South Korea, where major banks and telecommunications companies sponsor “StarCraft” leagues and teams, fans cheered at every opportunity during the announcement.
“The graphics of StarCraft II seem so much better,” said Kim Young Chul, 25.
“No, I dont play the World of Warcraft or Warcraft 3. Only StarCraft. “
