A Korean online martial-arts game featuring flying monsters and slashing swords has been popular in China for three years running.

"Yulgang" has become a mega-hit on the mainland counting more than 50 million fans. A Korean online dance game and the online racing game "Kart Rider" have also become hit products in China, battling it out for 1st and 2nd slots in a game market boasting over a hundred million potential gamers.

So successful are Korea's game-makers that one Hong Kong firm will invest US$100 million to found a company in Seoul to develop better games that apply Korean game-designers' know-how.

By partnering up, overseas firms hope to benefit from Korean game developers' skills and experience while Korean companies gain access to untapped markets.

Thanks to a strong IT infrastructure and loads of tech-savvy consumers the Korean game market has been growing by leaps and bounds. The value of the domestic gaming market is on track to break the two billion dollar mark by year's end.

And industry analysts say foreign investors' passion for Korean gaming will stay hot for some time to come.