The indie game and culture festival “Beaver Rocks 2025,” hosted by the Smilegate Future Lab Foundation, has concluded successfully, attracting 15,000 visitors over three days. Held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul from December 5th to 7th, the event saw a 50% increase in attendance compared to the previous year, despite adverse weather conditions such as a cold wave and heavy snowfall.
Beaver Rocks, now in its fourth year, has solidified its position as Korea’s leading indie game festival, attracting over 43,000 cumulative visitors.
This event adopted “RGB,” the three primary colors of light, as its exhibition concept. The 82 on-site exhibits were divided into zones based on difficulty: “Red,” requiring high-level control; “Green,” aiming for a more engaging experience; and “Blue,” designed for beginners. The layout allowed visitors to intuitively find the game that best suits their needs.
The legend of the iconic indie game Sannabi continues on the scene.
The “Sannabi” special booth attracted hundreds of visitors throughout the three-day event, proving its legendary popularity in the indie game industry. The special booth, run by Wonder Potion, featured a demonstration of the newly released side story, “Sannabi: Haunted Day,” and showcased various merchandise, including the Cheolho badge, which received a huge response on Tumblbug. Some popular items sold out quickly upon opening, demonstrating the fervent love of fans.
Wonder Potion CEO Seunghyun Yoo gave a special lecture titled ‘Sannabi Postmortem: Things I Wish I Knew Then’, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and know-how from the development process.
Colorful programs and announcement of award winners
The stage featured a variety of programs, including influencer training, Jamtasua, Kim Sung-hoe, webtoon artist Kimong, and voice actor Kim Ye-rim. In particular, Anthony Lai, CEO of “Good Pizza, Great Pizza,” delivered a special lecture, offering practical insights to indie game creators.
On the final day of the festival, the “Beaver Featured 2025” awards ceremony was held. “Beaver of the Year,” as voted for by participating exhibition teams, went to ReturnTrue’s “Video Editor,” Mayfly’s “Project Revenant,” and Iron Deer’s “Lunaraxia – The Magpie Sings the End.”
Nine works were nominated for the Beaver Featured Special Award, selected by sponsors including Gyeonggi Content Promotion Agency, Naver Webtoon, Razer, BenQ, Stove Indie, Unity, and Fleetus, including Refuel’s ‘Ovis Loop’, Studio BBB’s ‘Monowave’, Cat Society’s ‘Dungeon In’, and Pixelian’s ‘Chrono Seoul’.
The offline event will continue online until December 14th.
The festival’s excitement continues online. Over 200 unique indie games, including some that received rave reviews on-site, can be enjoyed for free at the “Beaver Rocks 2025 Online Exhibition” on the Stove platform until December 14th.
The “Beaver Rocks Guidebook” provided to visitors also received a great response. This guidebook, which allowed visitors to become explorers themselves, exploring the venue and completing missions, transformed the festival into a game.
Works created through the game jam “Beaver Jam,” a collaboration with Naver Webtoon, and the experimental and challenging “Out of Index” exhibit also provided visitors with a fresh and enjoyable experience. Furthermore, the “Fleeders FGT (Focus Group Test) Zone” provided a meaningful opportunity for indie game fans and creators to engage in in-depth conversations.
Establishing itself as a cultural festival where creators and fans come together
Baek Min-jeong, head of Smilegate Future Lab, said, “It was truly inspiring to see creators, fans, and various members of the gaming ecosystem all interacting and having fun together in one space during Beaver Rocks.” He added, “Beaver Rocks, an indie game culture festival where creators become the main characters and enjoy themselves with the public, will return in an even more advanced form,” and expressed anticipation for future events.
Beaver Rocks has grown beyond a simple game exhibition into a cultural festival where creators and audiences can connect and interact. This year’s Beaver Rocks, the largest event ever with 363 teams participating, became a symbolic stage showcasing the healthy growth of the Korean indie game ecosystem.
