Android Market games category ban lifted in South Korea

Surge in purchases expected thanks to carrier billing

The Korean mobile gaming industry is about to receive another boost as the ban on the Android Market games category has been lifted.

The mobile gaming touchpaper seems to be aflame in the country - Distimo recently highlighted the palpable impact of the recent lifting of the ban on games in the  Apple App Store.

In less than one week, 43 percent of the top 100 free apps were games.

Android game developers will be looking for a similar surge in downloads now that Android consumers will be able to access them through native accounts.

Won-tan gaming

"If you are a game developer, now is the time to localise your game resources, app descriptions, and marketing assets to take advantage of this new opportunity," read a statement from Eric Chu, of the Android Developer Ecosystem.

"When you are ready, please visit the Android Market developer console to target your app for distribution in South Korea and set prices in Korean Won (KRW). If you don't want to distribute to Korea right away, you can also exclude it.

"With the huge popularity of games on Android and the convenience of direct carrier billing in Korea, we expect to see a jump in game purchases and downloads in the weeks ahead. For game developers worldwide, it's "game on" in Korea!"

[source: Android Developers Blog]

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