{"id":47078,"date":"2025-04-15T17:17:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T08:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=47078"},"modified":"2025-04-15T17:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T08:45:53","slug":"xbox-criticized-for-turning-its-back-on-worlds-4th-largest-gaming-market-by-south-korean-media-and-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/xbox-criticized-for-turning-its-back-on-worlds-4th-largest-gaming-market-by-south-korean-media-and-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox criticized for \u201cturning its back on world\u2019s 4th largest gaming market\u201d by South Korean media and players\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A recent article by South Korean outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/g-enews.com\/article\/ICT\/2025\/04\/202504141448301089c5fa75ef86_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Global Economic<\/a> highlights that Microsoft is receiving criticism and unfavorable comparisons to Sony and Nintendo for repeatedly leaving out Korean language support for first-party releases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most recent such example is The Outer Worlds 2, developed by Xbox Game Studios\u2019 Obsidian Entertainment. The title was recently announced for a 2025 release, but none of its store listings currently mention Korean language support at launch. Interestingly, the first game \u2013 2019\u2019s The Outer Worlds \u2013 included Korean subtitles from day one. This apparent shift in attitude has been discouraging for Korean users of the platform.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1117\" height=\"628\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1117px) 100vw, 1117px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-001.jpg\" alt=\"The Outer Worlds 2\" class=\"wp-image-47083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-001.jpg 1117w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Global Economic reached out to Xbox to inquire about Korean language support for the sequel, who responded that they have \u201cnothing to announce at the moment.\u201d Currently, The Outer Worlds 2 is <a href=\"https:\/\/kr.shop.battle.net\/ko-kr\/product\/the-outer-worlds-2?p=1935767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">listed as available for the Korean region<\/a>, but does not support the language.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Microsoft\u2019s localization policy already came under fire in 2023, when Bethesda Softworks released its brand-new IP Starfield without official Korean support. This move was especially criticized given that the game\u2019s marketing was largely conducted in Korean, creating the impression of false advertising. What\u2019s more, the game itself includes Korean motifs like Chapaguri (food item) and The Haemosu (ship name based on Korean mythology), which further fueled Korean gamers\u2019 dissatisfaction about being left out. Even with the release of its Shattered Space expansion behind it, Starfield still has no official language support for Korean.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1347\" height=\"752\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1347px) 100vw, 1347px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-002.jpg\" alt=\"The Haemosu in Starfield\" class=\"wp-image-47082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-002.jpg 1347w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-002-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-002-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, Avowed, which was released in February this year, was initially supposed to get Korean language support within a month of its launch, but this has since been delayed to as late as August.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Global Economic, Microsoft&#8217;s approach to localization \u201cstands in stark contrast\u201d to competitors like Sony and Nintendo, whose major first-party releases until now have included Korean language support. The platform\u2019s neglect of South Korea is considered unusual given that the country is the 4th largest gaming market in the world. It is worth pointing out, however, that although Korea indeed holds a large share in the global gaming market, it only accounts for about 1.5% of global console revenue (source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/korea-plans-to-grow-console-industry-in-the-next-five-years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GamesIndustry.biz<\/a>), with online and mobile gaming being far more widespread \u2013 this could be a possible reason holding Microsoft back from investing in Korean localization.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"253\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-003.jpg\" alt=\"South Korea console market breakdown for 2024\" class=\"wp-image-47085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-003.jpg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-003-380x160.jpg 380w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">South Korea console market breakdown for 2024 (via <a href=\"https:\/\/g-enews.com\/article\/ICT\/2025\/04\/202504141448301089c5fa75ef86_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Global Economic<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, this approach appears to have negatively impacted Xbox\u2019s popularity in the country, as KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency)\u2019s surveys reveal that the Xbox\u2019s share in Korea\u2019s console market fell from 17.8% to 10.9% between 2023 and 2024.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Korean media criticizes Microsoft for its &#8220;tepid&#8221; localization strategy for first-party Xbox titles, which has caused the platform&#8217;s popularity to decline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":47081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-47078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Xbox criticized for \u201cturning its back on world\u2019s 4th largest gaming market\u201d by South Korean media and players\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Korean media criticizes Microsoft for its &quot;tepid&quot; localization strategy for first-party Xbox titles, which has caused the platform&#039;s popularity to decline.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/xbox-criticized-for-turning-its-back-on-worlds-4th-largest-gaming-market-by-south-korean-media-and-players\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Xbox criticized for \u201cturning its back on world\u2019s 4th largest gaming market\u201d by South Korean media and players\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Korean media criticizes Microsoft for its &quot;tepid&quot; localization strategy for first-party Xbox titles, which has caused the platform&#039;s popularity to decline.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/xbox-criticized-for-turning-its-back-on-worlds-4th-largest-gaming-market-by-south-korean-media-and-players\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T08:17:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T08:45:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250415-47078-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1271\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"712\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Xbox criticized for \u201cturning its back on world\u2019s 4th largest gaming market\u201d by South Korean media and players\u00a0 - 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