No Sir, Love.
You are correct, economy does play quite the heaviest actually. But, by economy I do not mean the state of the entire financial structure in a nation.. or a continent. Mostly, it is the number of target consumers and the predicted profit margin that plays the most important role in deciding entertainment driven projects. The region with the highest number of target consumers and profit margin is bound to be receiving an international, entertainment product, the last. The region of such, is usually the U.S. This is done to prevent any dissatisfied customers by testing out in areas where net profit may not be so high, yet it has enough target customers. Basically, Nexon wants to make as much money as they can, and it is from U.S. that they make the most. To make sure that they make the maximum amount, their tests are conducted in all other countries, prior to U.S.
Disney Theme parks are the superb model of this. All Disney Theme Parks are designed and process in U.S. , but none of them open in U.S first. Always in other country first to make sure it is good enough, then into U.S. Not because we are patriots, not because America has the biggest guns... this is all because Americans love to spend money on video games, theme parks, and movies.