The Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) said it expects to see gamers in Navy uniforms playing in Starcraft pro competitions in the second half of this year.

The order to create the team came from Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Song Young-moo, a Navy official said, after it was concluded that a gamers team could be an excellent low-cost publicity move.

Starcraft is an online game in which participants compete as members of one of three tribes. Currently players from 12 pro teams compete in individual and group tournaments in Korea.

The launch of the Navy's Starcraft team comes on the heels of a similar move by the Korean Air Force, which formed its Airforce Challenge E-sports (ACE) team in April.

When the Air Force uploaded a feature on its website of the military life of gamer Im Yo-han, known as the king of the Terran tribe in Starcraft, it was temporarily overloaded with a crush of video game fans trying to access the page. Visitors to the Air Force's website have doubled since it founded its gamers team.

The pro game industry has welcomed the establishment of the military teams. Many pro gamers who have postponed their military service start dates will have to don their uniforms by the end of this year.

The Korean Army is also said to be considering starting a video game team. That means future tournaments could see players from all three branches of Korea's military.

(englishnews@chosun.com )