Soccer games are blowing up in Korea as World Cup fever takes hold

Unless you’ve been living under a rock that’s under another, much larger rock that is itself located somewhere at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, you’re probably aware that the World Cup is coming up. And while only the best players in the world can play in the actual games that will begin on Thursday in Brazil, anybody can kick their way to victory in a video game, and according to data tracker Gametrics, South Korean gamers are doing exactly that.

Specifically, Gametrics says that in the run-up to the World Cup, Korean gamers have been playing a lot more soccer games. FIFA Online 3, Korea’s most popular online soccer game, has seen its rate of play in internet cafes there jump from a little over 1% to nearly 9%, skyrocketing it into the country’s top 3 PC games.

Perhaps even more interestingly, web searches for Freestyle Football Z, which is just now hitting open beta in Korea, have actually eclipsed searches for Korea’s most popular game, League of Legends. Clearly, even South Korea has caught the World Cup fever.

(via Netease Games)