According to a report by consumer game website IGN, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has joined up with the Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (whose U.S. divisions are known as iPark), and will introduce WA! PS3 Online, a joint venture to help Korean game developers make online titles for the PlayStation 3.
The report explains that the selected developers will get prototype funding from KIPA, and additional post-prototype funding from SCEJ, as well as free technical support and PlayStation 3 development kit rentals. Selected titles that successfully complete development will be released first in Japan, and then in Korea.
Given the success of a number of Korean online titles on the PC in Japan, particularly
Ragnarok Online, this joint venture can be seen as a way to help some of the best South Korean titles make their way to the PlayStation 3 in an exclusive manner, thus stopping rival consoles from snapping them up, as well as encouraging Korean exports of titles on the potentially much more lucrative consoles.
