Why is starcraft more popular in South Korea than Warcraft 3?

[Rhett]

From some web research, I've learned that the best warcraft 3 player has made something like $150k in lifetime earnings, while the best Starcraft players made like $300k last year in South Korea in prize money alone.

I understand that in south korea, they have something against Japan, and they play video games on a PC rather than a console. Apparently, video-game-cafe's are really popular, and 1/3 of the population plays video games. There are 2 TV channels that will replay starcraft battles, and the best starcraft players are famous.

So, my question is why does South Korea like Starcraft better? The only possible reasons I can come up with are:

1. It is easier to pirate, or otherwise cheaper for video cafes to use. Maybe because it will run on older hardware.

2. They like the "star" theme better.

3. They don't like the whole "hero" business in warcraft 3.


If #1 is the reason, will South Korea switch to Starcraft 2 when that comes out? It seems like they wouldn't since that would be far more expensive than the original starcraft, but they will switch to starcraft 2 if it's for reasons 2 or 3.