The biggest broadband game you never heard of

In the most connected country (Korea), Kart Rider recently dethroned the venerable Starcraft as the biggest online game. The company that makes it, Nexon, has also achieved something far more significant: it has cracked the money making formula as well. By selling cute digital upgrades to the player's kart-racer avatars, the company pulled in $110 million last year and expects $250 million revenue this year.

When Koreans were recently polled for their most impressive automobile, a Kart Rider premium entry even crept in at #2, just behind the Porsche Carerra GT.

Over 25% of the entire population admits to having played Kart Rider, a remarkable performance that cannot have escaped the eyes of online game-designers world-wide. Although Kart Rider is only slated for asian expansion (the company is keen to launch a Chinese edition), if you want to see what it is like to buy your way to the top, perhaps you can look into a sailing the Doubloon ocean at Puzzle Pirates (another quietly popular game you never heard of), or, just join a US MMORPG such as World of Warcraft, and then shop for pre-levelled avatars on ebay. Gamers racing (or fighting) their wallets is definitely here to stay.

More on Kart-Racer can be found in the english edition of the Korea Times and an admiring Business week article is here.

The center of the Kart Rider universe, and the all-important upgrade shop, is its korean site kart.nexon.com.

source: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/64953