Until last year, the popularity of Valorant in South Korea was quite low. As is well known, South Korea has a highly developed PC bang (gaming cafe) culture, with many people enjoying games at these establishments. However, Valorant's PC bang market share was a mere 3% at the time. But with the increase in streamers and the decline in popularity of other games last year, the market share steadily rose, finally breaking the 10% mark earlier this year.
Although the growth has somewhat slowed down currently, the market share continues to rise, and it is optimistically predicted to reach 15% to 20% if no significant variables emerge.
The low popularity of traditional FPS games in South Korea can be traced back to the PC bang flat-rate incident in the 2000s. At the time, Valve and Steam integrated Counter-Strike, which was widely distributed in Korean PC bangs, into Steam, restricting game access to account purchasers only. PC bangs had to bear considerable costs to accommodate this change. As a result, Counter-Strike's presence in the Korean market significantly diminished, and traditional FPS remained a minor genre for a long time. This seems to be the reason why Korean teams have not been able to make a strong showing in Valorant, which adopts the traditional FPS format.
Although Gen.G unfortunately missed out on the championship, this is considered a highly encouraging result. The performance in this Masters tournament will not remain the peak of the growing Korean Valorant scene.
In summary, challengers from all regions may have different starting lines, but they will eventually prove their worth at the top. Among them, the Korean Valorant scene is expected to lift the trophy as early as this year. In the process, many new players will be discovered, and it is anticipated that most of the current Korean pro teams will undergo significant roster changes by next year. If Korea secures its first championship, it is highly likely that at least two new players will be included in the team. Numerous rising stars, including Karon and Flashback, are currently in the spotlight.
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