The usage time of League of Legends (LoL), which has maintained the top market share in domestic PC rooms for seven years, has significantly decreased. In a situation where mobile games have become mainstream and console games are also growing, there are evaluations that PC games and the PC room culture are on a decline.
According to GameTricks, a platform that analyzes PC room game market share, LoL maintained a market share of around 40% at the end of last year, marking its seventh consecutive year at the top. However, despite its market share, actual usage time has plummeted. The PC room usage time of LoL, which exceeded 2 million hours in 2019, has now reduced to about 1.4 million hours.
This is not just a problem with LoL; it is interpreted as a result of the decline of PC games and PC room culture. The decreasing trend of PC rooms is clearly evidenced by the numbers. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), the number of PC rooms, which reached 21,547 in 2009, has drastically decreased to 8,485 as of 2023.
The deterioration of the PC room environment is intertwined with structural changes in the game market. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the operation of PC rooms took a direct hit, leading to an expansion in the distribution of high-performance gaming PCs. Gamers have no longer needed to visit PC rooms as they established gaming environments at home comparable to those in PC rooms.
According to the market research firm IDC, the shipment of gaming PCs and monitors recorded 65.1 million units in 2021, reaching an all-time high. During the same period, domestic PC market shipments also exceeded 6.07 million units, the first time surpassing 6 million in a decade since 2011 (6.7 million units). With this year's minimum wage in Korea exceeding 10,000 won per hour and operating costs increasing, the likelihood of PC rooms closing is growing.
The change in game usage rates by platform is also negatively impacting PC rooms. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, in 2012, the usage rate of PC games among gamers was overwhelming at 86.8%. However, last year, the usage rate dropped to 53.8%, shrinking its presence.
In contrast, mobile games have explosively increased in usage rate from 10.1% to 91.7% during the same period, establishing themselves as the central axis of the domestic game market. Console games are also showing gradual growth. The usage rate of console games, which was 20.8% in 2020, increased to 26.7% last year.
The struggles of PC games like LoL are also influenced by changes in the main user demographic. Unlike in the past, when the gaming market was primarily formed around teenagers and those in their twenties, people in their thirties and forties are emerging as the mainstay of the gaming market. A game industry official noted, "Aging gamers prefer mobile games that are easier to enjoy on smartphones over PC games or are shifting to immersive console games."