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Despite the global recession, exports of Korean online games are expected to exceed $1.5 billion in 2009, nearly double the $1 billion recorded from the previous year. "The industry was little affected by the global economic downturn," an official at the Korean Association of Game Industry said.

"The sharp rise in overseas sales drove the growth of earnings and shares of Korean game companies such as NCSoft and NeoWiz last year. This trend will continue this year," said Kim Chang-kwean, an analyst at Daewoo Securities.

The local online game market is also expected to post solid growth this year, with a slew of planned rollouts of new games. The Korean online game market has been growing more than 20 percent annually in recent years. In 2008, the local online game industry generated revenue of 2.6 trillion won, of which $1 billion came from overseas.