After four years as the most-played game each week in South Korea, League of Legends finally loses the crown to Blizzard's massively successful first-person shooter Overwatch.
Ever since its release last month, Blizzard's critically-acclaimed first-person shooter Overwatch has been nothing short of a massive success. The game saw over 7 million players within its first week of sale, and was ranked among the best selling games in May, despite being released towards the end of the month. This success hasn't just been limited to America, and Overwatch's popularity is quickly spreading everywhere, most notably in South Korea.
In the past four or so years, Riot Games' League of Legends dominated the South Korean weekly gaming charts, and was the most-played game each week in PC gaming cafes. But as of the start of this week, that streak has now ended, and Overwatch is now the most-played game in the country.
According to Gametrics, a Korean video game tracking site, Overwatch currently holds the top spot with approximately 30% of users playing it in internet cafes, whereas League of Legends holds second spot with approximately 28%. This was quite the achievement from Blizzard, so much so that League of Legends analyst MonteCristo tweeted the Gametrics stats that clearly shows Overwatch sitting on top of the weekly South Korean gaming charts.
[HTML1]
Overwatch's worldwide popularity has been on an upward curve since it was launched, and its roster of characters have already become so beloved by fans that they've already been modded into Street Fighter 5. Blizzard has also been a popular developer in Korea for many years, primarily due to the success of its real-time strategy games Starcraft and Starcraft 2, so it's not too surprising that Overwatch has overtaken League of Legends as the most played game in the country.
Given that the gap between Overwatch and League of Legends is only a couple of percentage points, the top spot could still change between the two games. However, with Korean players being among the first to try Overwatch's upcoming competitive play mode and some of the game's special golden weaponry, it appears that the game is in a good position to hold onto its slim lead.
With Blizzard set to launch Overwatch's competitive play mode at any moment, some important character balance changes still to come, and the prospect of new heroes being introduced very soon, it likely the game will continue topping the weekly South Korean gaming charts for the foreseeable future.
Overwatch is now available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.