Korea’s representative indie game exhibition, ‘2026 Indie Craft,’ has finalized 72 outstanding developers participating in the exhibition after fierce competition.
The 2026 Indiecraft Organizing Committee announced that it has selected a total of 72 developers, including 52 companies in the domestic sector and 20 companies in the Challenger sector, as outstanding companies participating in the exhibition.
This year, Indiecraft closed submissions on May 11, recording the largest number of entries in its history. Amidst fierce competition resulting from the increased number of submissions, the organizing committee conducted the judging process with fairness and objectivity as its top priorities.
In particular, for this year’s judging process, a standard deviation-based scoring system was fully implemented to reduce score discrepancies that may arise from differences in judges’ scoring tendencies. Through this, we focused on enhancing the balance and transparency of the evaluation and verifying the competitiveness of the works more precisely.
An official from Indiecraft stated, “Competition was fiercer than ever with the highest number of entries ever received,” adding, “As a large number of high-quality works were submitted, the judging panel’s discussions and deliberations were inevitably deep.”
In particular, in the domestic sector, a number of excellent developers exceeding the initial selection scale were identified during the additional review process by the Review and Adjustment Committee. Accordingly, the Organizing Committee expanded the selection to a final lineup of 52 companies by adding two companies to the existing plan of selecting 50.
The 72 finalist developers will participate in the ‘Indiecraft Networking Day’ to be held on June 19. The event will feature a semi-conference with game industry experts, as well as networking programs designed to foster exchange, collaboration, and business opportunities between developers and industry stakeholders.
Follow-up support programs for the selected companies will also be provided. Online and offline lectures on AI-based data analysis methodologies and commercialization support programs linked with sponsors will be offered, along with the opportunity to participate in the ‘2026 GXG’ offline exhibition to be held this coming September. On this stage, participating developers will continue the second round of competition to be selected for the final Top 3.
Lee Ju-yeon, Co-chair of the Organizing Committee (President of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency), stated, “Despite the intense enthusiasm resulting in the highest number of entries in history, we were able to select competitive developers through a fair evaluation process,” adding, “We will continue to provide administrative and institutional support to ensure that Seongnam establishes itself as a key hub for Korea’s indie game industry.”
Hwang Seong-ik, Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee (President of the Korea Mobile Game Association), stated, “It is meaningful to select outstanding indie developers who will lead the future of the Korean game industry,” adding, “The Organizing Committee will spare no support to ensure that the developers who have passed through this fierce competition can grow into K-Indie Games that are competitive in the global market.”
Interest is growing in what artistic merit and potential the developers participating in this year’s Indiecraft will showcase, having been selected through the largest competition in history and an enhanced screening system. The full list of participating developers is scheduled to be released on the official Indiecraft website this coming June.
