泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌 [A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity] Let's take a look at Korea's gaming industry (Part 1)

泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌

[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]

 

Let's take a look at Korea's gaming industry (Part 1)

 

Lawmakers, government officials, and civilian experts gathered in the National Assembly recently to discuss the video gaming industry policy of the next administration. The purpose of the discussion was to aware of the current problem of the gaming industry policy and to set a new direction for Moon administration. In the policy debate, many experts including Kim Byeong-Kwan, developer and entrepreneur-turned-member of the National Assembly, Hwang Seong-Ik, the president of Korea Mobile Game Association, and Lee Jae-hong, the president of Korea Game Society, etc. exchanged opinions about regulatory reforms and necessity of the institution dedicated to the industry. As a person engaged in the game-related field, I'd like to talk about this subject.

 

Many people say that the domestic gaming industry has been in trouble for the past few years. I have also agreed with these people for various reasons. So I want to give the readers exact figures to identify how bad the situation is to analyze problems.

 

First, let's take a look at the size of the market for Korea's gaming industry.

<Market size and outlook of the local gaming industry>

Type	2015		2016(E)		2017(E)
	Sales	Growth rate	Sales	Growth rate	Sales	Growth rate
Market Size	107,223	7.5%	113,194	5.6%	116,496	2.9%

(Korea's Gaming Industry White Paper 2016)

This table shows that the national gaming industry has continued its growth with its declining growth rates.

 

<Number of domestic content companies and employees>

Type	2012		2013		2014		Year-on-year rate
	Company	Worker	Company	Worker	Company	Worker	Company	Worker
Comic	8,856	10,161	8,520	10,077	8,274	10,066	-3.7%	-1.7%
Music	37,116	78,402	36,863	77,456	36,535	77,637	-0.7%	0.3%
Game	16,189	95,051	15,078	91,893	14,440	87,281	-8.6%	-2.1%
Movie	2,630	30,857	1,427	30,238	1,285	29,646	-23.4%	-0.8%

(Korea's Content Industry White Paper 2015)

This table shows that the domestic content industries have suffered in recent years throughout the field and the gaming industry is even worse. The industrial growth rate is going down to a similar level of the inflation rate and the dwindling number of workers is undeniable proof that the local gaming industry has declined.

 

To be continued

 

 

※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.

(http://www.khgames.co.kr)

 

Translation by Kim Ki-hui