Overwatch Becomes the Most Popular Game in Korean Internet Cafes

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.

More than 30 percent of gamers in South Korea’s PC bangs (internet cafes) are playing Blizzard’s new MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Gametrics (via Polygon) reports. StarCraft has always been considered South Korea’s unofficial national sport, the strategy title giving rise to tournaments, celebrity players, televised matches – what we now know as eSports. The number three spot on the list is held by Sudden Attack and is only played by 7.93 percent so it’s not a great diversity of games being played in South Korean internet cafes’.

For the last four straight years, the country’s strong competitive MOBA scene has kept League of Legends at the top of the charts in net cafes.

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.

It also comes as the game’s tier-based Competitive mode begins its rollout, with the PC version’s debut competitive season beginning today and running until August 18th. League of Legends has securely held the top spot on Gametrics’ charts for years, so it’s quite notable that Overwatch has edged it out (by a very small margin of roughly one and a half percent) after just over a month on sale.

Overwatch was officially unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 in a fully playable state and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in May 2016.