Nerdfeed: Overwatch kick League of Legends rankings

Blizzard Entertainment's online multiplayer first-person shooter "Overwatch" has clinched the top perch in Korea's online game ranks, Saturday, ending the 203-week-long lead of "League of Legends. inches

According to data by game market research agency Gametrics, Overwatch ranked first in conditions of popularity in PC rooms here with a 29. 36 percent reveal by Friday, beating Group of Legends which had 29. 17 percent. Even though the shooting game's market share rose to twenty nine. 63 percent on Sunday, League of Legends experienced 29. 79 percent and took back the most notable perch.

Before the release of Overwatch on May twenty six, League of Legends, which already has popular e-sports leagues both at home and abroad, had maintained its market share at around 40 percent. Nevertheless the number had gone down to around 30 per cent since June.

Given that the market share fluctuates read more about the weekends, expectations are high that Overwatch may continue its early popularity, which has already defeated market projections so much, in a longer-term point of view.

An industry source said the market success of Overwatch in conditions of PC room rankings in Korea is notable considering its pay-to-play business model. Unlike free-to-play games, which is a dominant game business model both for online computer and mobile titles in Korea, users have to buy a permit code or a package including the code to play a pay-to-play game.

"Overwatch has adopted a pay-to-play model, not a subscription-based or free-to-play model and still has proven successful, beating a long held belief in the Korean market that pay-to-play games cannot hit the market here anymore, " he said. "Considering that Overwatch provides a highly competitive and immersive gaming experience in its six-on-six matches, its popularity will probably expand once the company comes out the rating system and organize e-sports competitions. "

In Overwatch, users choose from 21 characters, which each fit in to one of 4 functions - offense, defense, container and support - and join a team of six players. You are asked to cooperate with their teammates to achieve a given goal in each round such as living in an enemy base or carrying cargo to their destination.

When Blizzard Enjoyment unveiled Overwatch in 2014, many gamers were astonished to see that the company, which has founded its reputation mostly in role-playing and real-time strategy games such as "Starcraft, " "Warcraft" and "Diablo, " was developing a shooter for the first time in its background. Another concern from Korean language gamers was that Overwatch's futuristic background might not land well as sci-fi content has been relatively unfamiliar to users here.

Nevertheless, Overwatch has defied such concerns and debuted as No. 3 in the PC room rankings at its release on May 21. It has also crushed shooting game "Sudden Attack" and football game "FIFA Online 3, " which had maintained the second and the third place spots for many years, before contending with League of Stories.

Blizzard Entertainment said it has sold more than 7 million copies of Overwatch as of June 3. On Wednesday, it also said the game has drawn over 12 million users around the globe.