泥中蟠龍's Game愛歌
[A love song for games of the dragon waiting for an opportunity]
A break for South Korea's gaming industry
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) will be held soon. I have kept writing for a newspaper for four years since around the 18th film festival in 2013. But it seems like just yesterday. I'm not trying to show off although I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the long-period time and there were many pleasant memories. Frankly speaking, the opening sentence of the column is nothing short of a struggle to escape from finding a new subject because I simply can't decide what to write about today. This quite often happened for the past four years as the deadline drew near. I used to sit in front of a computer looking at the monitor for a good while with no definite idea.
In this case, I usually try to have my attention drawn away running through a book or playing a video game. I used to find myself begging a subject from me without thinking outside of the box because I was so lost in thought that I couldn't come up with the idea. But I hit upon a good concept for writing all of a sudden as if I find effective strategy or tactics for a task in a video game. Therefore, I let me get distracted for a while until a good idea just popped into my head.
Recently I heard from several game developers that they have to close down their businesses for good. It's not only very sad for me but also will have a bad effect on the domestic gaming industry. The recent business environment for national video game makers is considerably deteriorating. The costs of development have moved up as big publishers release large-budget video games, whereas the number of newly-published games is declining. Developers are gradually losing their chance to introduce a brand-new game against increased production costs. Increasing losses from unpopular or unloved content have also led investors to cut back on their investment. Self-publishing puts a big financial burden on small game studios owing to the formidable marketing cost. Also, imported games have taken over the domestic market and the government has constantly tightened the rules on local video games over the past few years. It's comparable to a college student who struggles with higher tuition, difficult job-hunting, and parent's hard living conditions.
I can't provide a definite solution to the increasingly fierce industry situation. But I believe that the national gaming industry will keep growing overcoming all crises at present. There were a lot of difficulties in the past and will be in the future as well. We will find a better solution if we are looking forward to the future with a positive attitude, like clearing your head for a while sometimes helps you to strike upon an idea easily. I do no doubt that it's time for Korea's gaming industry to get some rest.
※ This is from Kyunghyang Games column by 泥中蟠龍 since September 2013.
(http://www.khgames.co.kr)
Translation by Kim Ki-hui
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