2013-11-21, 02:46 PM
The korean government is passing more anti-gaming bullshit laws, they've recently put video games on the same level as smoking, alcohol, drugs, and gambling. (Well, putting it on the same level as gambling isn't exactly unfair, since all kMMO gear enhancement IS gambling.)
Incredibly stupid since MMOs are one of South Korea's biggest industries, but they're doing it. And more korean developers are going to want to be branching out to the rest of the world faster as a result.
One game that's still in beta (Black Wolf Online I think.) even recently added an english version of the site complete with foreigner registration! Not to mention there's more and more korean games coming out using the more realistic western artstyles instead of the anime artstyle that most of them have been using. Even Mabinogi's prequel Vindictus and sequel Mabinogi 2 are going with a more western artstyle even though Mabinogi's a poster child of cutesy anime style kMMOs. It seems like there's a new trend of trying to appeal to the western market amongst korean developers.
So there's actually a higher chance of it coming over than you think.
In fact, I'd imagine that one WILL come out in NA eventually no matter what. At least one publisher is going to want to get their hands on "the true successor" of Ragnarok Online, the first kMMO to actually get big in the west.
We do tend to get the "best" kMMOs, it just takes forever for some of them to come out. (Blade and Soul is even confirmed for a NA release. It's just happening incredibly slowly.) Others however, get speedy releases. (RO2 and Scarlet Blade got released in NA in around 12-13 months after their korean releases, not counting closed and open beta.)
Incredibly stupid since MMOs are one of South Korea's biggest industries, but they're doing it. And more korean developers are going to want to be branching out to the rest of the world faster as a result.
One game that's still in beta (Black Wolf Online I think.) even recently added an english version of the site complete with foreigner registration! Not to mention there's more and more korean games coming out using the more realistic western artstyles instead of the anime artstyle that most of them have been using. Even Mabinogi's prequel Vindictus and sequel Mabinogi 2 are going with a more western artstyle even though Mabinogi's a poster child of cutesy anime style kMMOs. It seems like there's a new trend of trying to appeal to the western market amongst korean developers.
So there's actually a higher chance of it coming over than you think.
In fact, I'd imagine that one WILL come out in NA eventually no matter what. At least one publisher is going to want to get their hands on "the true successor" of Ragnarok Online, the first kMMO to actually get big in the west.
We do tend to get the "best" kMMOs, it just takes forever for some of them to come out. (Blade and Soul is even confirmed for a NA release. It's just happening incredibly slowly.) Others however, get speedy releases. (RO2 and Scarlet Blade got released in NA in around 12-13 months after their korean releases, not counting closed and open beta.)