Chinese Gaming Company The9 Establishes South Korean Branch

Chinese gaming company The9 Interactive — the giant operator that distributes a number of major Western games in China and the former operator of World of Warcraft here — has taken a step in the international direction, announcing in Seoul this morning the establishment of a new branch of the company in South Korea.

The new branch will be headed up by Tony Park, who is currently the company’s vice president. Details are still scarce as the announcement was just made and The9 has not yet even posted a press release, but it appears that The9’s new Korean branch will — unsurprisingly — be looking to release some of the games it operates in China to the Korean market, including DungeonCraft, Poxnora, Free Realms, and Planetside 2.

This is not The9’s first move outside China. Recently, the company set up a new branch of Red 5 Studios — which it acquired in 2010 — in Singapore.

As the gaming industry in China grows, we expect to see more developers, publishers, and operators venturing outside China’s borders, especially into other Asian countries. That said, Korea may prove a challenge for The9, as the games industry there is quite firmly established and the most popular online games are already being distributed and operated by other companies.

Just for fun, check out the trailer for Red 5 Studio’s upcoming free-to-play FPS Firefall, which should be entering open beta this December. Expect to see The9 and Red 5 Singapore as the exclusive operator of the game throughout much if not all of Asia.