| Launch in Korea first! |
| Global companies trying to take advantage of these characteristics of Korea for global expansion are increasing. Although it is good phenomenon, how it actually benefits Korea is something to think about. |
What is one of trends among some of blockbuster movie? It is releasing the movie first in Korea. It is no longer difficult to find Hollywood movies that are first released in Korea before worldwide release. Les Miserables, starring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, World War Z, starring Brad Pitt, Mission Impossible, starring Tom Cruise, all held their first premiers in South Korea before anywhere else.
Even with high growth of Korean movie market in recent years, Korea is much smaller market in scale, compared to US or Europe. Then why is Hollywood releasing new movies first in Korea? It is because Korea is optimal for making accurate estimate of total box-office. A film-distributor from MGM said “in Korea, people have made the best use of internet blog writing review of movies and submitting ratings. Therefore, success in Korea becomes barometer of global box office estimate.”
Test bed is “process of measuring the reaction and consumer popularity when staging new product or program in a market and determining the likelihood of success in other markets.” Test bed, in original computer terms, means programs and data used to confirm the validity of other programs. However, the meaning has extended in recent years, it means staging and experimenting the reaction of market in various industrial fields such as mobile, IT, game, movie, or car.
Now, Korea market has become a test bed for global industries for mobile, IT, culture, and retail. Especially, Korea market is favorite test bed for foreign game companies. Korea has many highly qualified pro gamers even its scale is smaller than America or Europe. Last November, during Major League Gaming, e-sports game competition, Korean pro gamers won the first prizes in 3 games (League Of Legend, Starcraft, Chulwan). Also, last May, Korean gamer succeeded in winning the final stage of Diablo 3 made by Blizzard, a America’s famous game company, after just 6 hours of its release, shocking the worldwide gaming community. So it’s a reasonable that Korea is receiving game companies’ attention.
Blizzard invited many Korean gamers to participate in pre launch testing for their games, fixing UX design, errors, and bugs based on feedback. Also, Konami from Japan entered Korea market to learn about game production and business know-how. In the past, Korea market was just one of markets, no different than others. But these days, Korea market is essential gateway for success, and has become a leading player in game industry.
Also, Korea has become important test bed in mobile industry. Korea has the highest smart phone penetration rate in the world. Korean are early adopters and this makes Korea an ideal place to test next generation mobile products. Last September, Google Korea started ‘Google eBook service’ in Korea, first of Asian countries.
Aside from successful development of IT and high saturation of internet in Korea, there are characteristics of Korean that explain merits of using Korea as test bed.
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry diagnosed that strong curiosity and desire to flaunt, as well as social competitiveness and trend sensitivity combined with IT technologies, gave Korea status as excellent test bed. Unlike foreign markets where it takes years to get feedback, it only takes a few months in Korea.
As global companies open branch offices, it creates jobs, and Koreans are exposed to newest technology and newest products from overseas through test bed. However, if Korea is used only as a test bed, benefits are only temporary. We have a great opportunity to experience global products before anywhere and we must use it as a catalyst to develop Korea industry by creating a new paradigm.
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