With the popularity of video games, Korea is the fourth player in the world game industry. Gyeonggi-do is playing a core role in the industry as an incubator facility willing to keep the industry sound.
The market
potential is not limited to games and gaming equipment sales, South Korea is
also known for its active esports scene and competitive gaming enthusiasts.
Many South Korean players and teams rank high in global esports competitions,
famously in games such as Starcraft and League of Legends. In South Korea, the
top esports players are treated like celebrities.
One of the
contributing factors to the growth of the game industry has been the active
investment of both public and private sectors. Along these lines, Gyeonggi-do
(which has the highest concentration of game-related businesses in the country)
established the Gyeonggi-do Global Game Center (GGC) to support the regional
game industry and will be investing more than 53 billion KRW (until 2022) to
help the local game business enter the global market.
What Is Gyeonggi Global Game Center
Gyeonggi GlobalGame Center (GGC) is a specialized game support organization operated through
the Gyeonggi Content Agency and supported by the Gyeonggi-do province. The goal
of the center is to advance the regional game industry by supporting local game
businesses. GGC also aims at providing support for the global launching of
locally developed games through a variety of programs.
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| Global week event at 11th Gyeonggi Game audition ⓒGGC |
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| Conference at 11th Gyeonggi Game audition was a place to share the global game issues ⓒGGC |
Gyeonggi Game Audition
Gyeonggi-do has
many budding small game companies. Gyeonggi Game Audition is a program that
helps GGC discover outstanding talents, content, and startups who could benefit
from the center’s services. The selected teams receive resources that help them
grow and go global.
In the 11thGyeonggi Game audition, five teams made it to the final stage; these teams will
receive financial and professional help from GGC. The leading team receives 50
million KRW in financial aid, two teams in second-place receive 30 million KRW
each, and two teams in third-place receive 20 million KRW. The selected teams
will get additional points when applying for working spaces in GGC and gain
access to QA, sound, localization, and marketing support.
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| GGC Game Academy give golden lessons to future game labors and entrepreneurs ⓒGGC |
The Gyeonggi Game Academy
Gyeonggi GameAcademy is an education and mentoring program targeted at the developers and
future game industry entrepreneurs. The Game Academy Startup program accepts
entrepreneurs with related experience twice a year for 6-month-long terms.
The startup program
is divided into two focuses: game development and game entrepreneurship. In the
game development focus, participants will receive mentoring in aspects related
to game design, programming, graphic design, etc. The entrepreneurship focus
covers important business aspects such as taxes & accounting, HR &
labor, laws & regulations, etc.
During the
program, the participants receive financial aid for game development,
one-on-one mentoring, access to working spaces provided by GGC, game
development equipment, follow-up support, and gain access to a strong network
of industry professionals.
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| Game Business Day held with the 11th Gyeonggi Game audition. International game experts and game startups shared that thoughts ⓒGGC |
Gyeonggi-do Global Support
To help the local
game companies break into the global game market, Gyeonggi-do has invested in a
large variety of support programs. The province is planning to increase the
number of companies receiving support from 604 to 1,454 by the year 2022. Also,
the working spaces available to the startups will be increasing from 19
locations to 40.
To expand the
international presence of the regional game companies, Gyeonggi-do is adding
new countries from Europe and Southwest Asia to the list of its targeted
markets.
Global Support programs provide the Gyeonggi-do game companies with the opportunity to
represent themselves in a variety of international game expositions. They will
also have access to consultation and help for entering and running game
operations in foreign markets.
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| KeG Amature Esports league was held under the support of GGC |
Support for Hosting and Entering Esports Events
Esports is an
important part of Korean gaming culture. South Korea played an important role
in bringing esports to the mainstream. For example, the World Cyber Games,
which started in the 2000s, was a trailblazing international esports
event.
To promote
Gyeonggi-do in South Korea’s esports scene, the province is constructing an
esports stadium in Pangyo Techno Valley. Esports have preceded traditional
sports in popularity and the competitive gaming market continues to grow. It’s
expected that the construction of related facilities will increase esports
tourism and bring in considerable revenue. The esports complex will have 400
seats in its main stadium and 50 seats in its second stadium.
One esports event
supported by Gyeonggi-do is the World Esports Challenge which is an
international amateur esports event held in 2019 for the first time. The Korean
amateur players who displayed a promising performance during the games were
offered a player training program to help them with their gaming career.
Gyeonggi-do hosts
a major South Korean game exposition, PlayX4, where visitors can get a peek
into the upcoming games and innovations in the fields of VR, AR, arcade,
console, etc. This year PlayX4 was set to open in May but, due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic and considerations about public health and safety, the
organizers have canceled the 2020 exposition. The cancellation of many major
game events such as E3 has created some concern regarding the availability of
hardware and release of upcoming games, however, due to social distancing,
isolation, and quarantine, the interest around video games is predicted to keepincreasing.
The game industry
has high growth potential and is considered one of the major sectors of the
content industry. South Korea has a high rate of game consumption and an active
fast-growing game industry. Gyeonggi-do believes that investing in the young
and growing game companies and helping them reach global audiences is a great
investment for the province’s financial future. Gyeonggi-do is laying down the
infrastructure needed for becoming an important center for the game and esports
industries.
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