The Chungbuk Global Game Center set a new milestone for the local gaming industry by surpassing KRW 10 billion in annual sales for supported companies for the first time in 2025.
North Chungcheong Province announced on the 25th that, as a result of strengthening the province’s gaming industry foundation through support for the operation of the ICT Convergence Chungbuk Global Game Center, the sales of companies supported by the center increased approximately 2.5-fold, from 3.95 billion won in 2020 to 10.01 billion won in 2025. Cumulative sales over the five-year period reached 44.82 billion won.
Outstanding performance in entering the global market
This year, in particular, saw significant progress in the global expansion of North Chungcheong Province’s gaming companies. Soul M Games, a resident company of the Center, signed a 3 billion won publishing contract with Southeast Asian publisher UTIMATE GAME for its mobile MMORPG “IRISORIGIN SEA.” The game was released in Thailand on December 15th, demonstrating the global competitiveness of North Chungcheong Province’s gaming companies.
The center’s growth has also led to job creation. New hires at supported companies exceeded 100 this year, representing a 15% increase over last year’s annual hiring figures, contributing to the revitalization of the local economy.
Systematic support programs are key growth drivers.
The Chungbuk Global Game Center was established in the Cheongju Advanced Cultural Industry Complex after being selected through a competition by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency in 2018. It has been promoting various support projects for local game companies, prospective employees, and students.
Key initiatives include game development support, incubation of indie and startup companies, support for advancement and commercialization, and training of professional game professionals. All 22 spaces are currently occupied and operational. In particular, the Chungbuk Game Academy’s talent development and corporate employment programs have been recognized as playing a key role in building the local game industry ecosystem.
Laying the foundation for future growth
In February of this year, we signed a business agreement with the Korea Game Developers Association, strengthening our cooperative system to revitalize the local game industry. The two organizations agreed to collaborate in various areas, including education, events, consulting, and information sharing.
Lee Hye-ran, head of the Science and Technology Policy Division of Chungcheongbuk-do Province, said, “The Chungcheongbuk-do Global Game Center has laid the foundation for the growth of local game companies through field-specific support that reflects the needs of the field,” and added, “We will continue to actively support the strategic fostering of content industries, including the game industry, so that they can lead to the local economy and job creation.”
Building on the achievements of 2025, the Chungbuk Global Game Center plans to continue to promote indie startup production support projects and game content production support projects, and to dedicate all its efforts to securing the global competitiveness of the Chungbuk game industry.
