■ September 24. Minister Choi Hwi-young visits the Pangyo gaming industry and discusses gaming policy directions with game company representatives.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young visited the Pangyo Game Talent Center and the Global Game Hub Center (Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province) on the morning of Wednesday, September 24, and met with representatives of game companies to discuss the new government’s game policy direction.
This meeting, which was the first on-site visit to the game industry since the Minister took office, was attended by ▲Nexon CEO Kim Jung-wook, ▲Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han, ▲Netmarble CEO Kim Byeong-gyu, ▲NCSoft CEO Park Byeong-moo, and ▲Smilegate CEO Sung Jun-ho. From the indie game companies, ▲Lord Complete CEO Bae Soo-jung, who won the ’50 Million Dollar Export Tower’ with ‘Legend of Slime’, ▲Wonder Potion CEO Yoo Seung-hyun, who produced ‘Sannabi’, which won the Indie category at the Korea Game Awards, ▲Dubricks Game CEO Lee Hye-rin, who produced ’30 Days’, a functional game that solves social problems, and ▲Korea Game Industry Association Chairman Cho Young-ki, ▲Korea Mobile Game Association Vice Chairman Kim Hyeon-gyu, etc.
Participants assessed that the global gaming market is rapidly being reorganized, driven by growth in China and Southeast Asia, and that the emergence of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) presents “K-games” with new changes and challenges. They also agreed that the government’s commitment and strategy to fostering the gaming industry are more important than ever.
In particular, they requested tax support such as introducing a production cost tax deduction for videos and webtoons to games, expanding fund investment across the entire game industry ecosystem from large-scale games to creative indie games, strengthening support for diversifying export countries, and establishing support for the artificial intelligence transition (AX) of the game production environment.
Minister Choi Hwi-young said, “I also worked as a representative of the game industry 20 years ago, and during that time, games have achieved tremendous industrial success, and I am proud of that. Also, if the culture and art of the 20th century was film, I think the culture and art of the 21st century is games. The possibility that games will continue to lead the axis of culture and art is open in the future.” He also expressed his will to foster ‘K-games’ by saying, “The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will also pursue various policies that will serve as a catalyst for new growth so that ‘K-games’ can continue to be a leading player in opening the era of 300 trillion won ‘K-culture.’”
