The 2025 K-Indie Game Success: The “Shape of Dreams” Syndrome
The biggest buzz in the Korean indie game industry in 2025 was undoubtedly Lizard Smoothie’s “Shape of Dreams.” Released on Steam on September 11th, the game surpassed 300,000 copies sold within a week and 500,000 copies two weeks later, setting a new milestone in Korean indie game history. Considering its retail price of 27,000 won, it’s estimated to have generated at least 13.5 billion won in sales.
The secret to Shape of Dreams’ success lies in its unique gameplay, which combines rogue-lite and MOBA styles. Drawing inspiration from classics like Hades, Risk of Rain, and Heroes of the Storm, the game supports up to four-player cooperative play and allows players to combine over 150 memory and essence items to create unique builds. The game has been praised by critics and users alike, reaching a peak concurrent player count of 45,000 on Steam and earning an 83 Metacritic score.
What’s particularly noteworthy is the achievement of Lizard Smoothie, which started with just two developers. Founded in January 2023, the startup garnered attention by winning the grand prize at Smilegate Future Lab’s Indigo 2024 in 2024 and went on to win triple crowns in the Action, Art, and Rising Star categories at the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2024. This successful foray into the global market with Neowiz’s publishing support is expected to be remembered as a prime example of Korean indie games proving their competitiveness on the global stage.
Expanding support from government and public institutions
In 2025, government and public agency support for indie game developers will significantly expand compared to the previous year. The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is implementing the “2025 Game Content Production Support Project,” a total of KRW 21.9 billion, and is supporting 76 projects. The project is structured into multi-year (PC, console, cross-platform), new growth (new technology, mobile, arcade, board games), and functionality categories. Notably, console games will now be eligible for up to three consecutive years of support.
The indie game development contest was also actively held. The startup category (individuals and corporations) offered development funding, mentoring, partnership programs with leading companies, and opportunities to participate in domestic and international exhibitions to indie game developers established less than three years ago. The corporate category received a total of 154 applications, demonstrating strong interest.
In addition, 12 global game centers and other local government agencies across the country have also implemented policies to lay the foundation for the domestic game industry by supporting various indie games and startups.
Various indie game events held, attracting a large number of visitors.
“2025 Indie Craft,” Korea’s largest indie game festival, was hosted by Seongnam City and co-hosted by the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency and the Korea Mobile Game Association. A total of 292 works applied, marking a record-breaking competition rate, and 70 outstanding developers were selected.
On August 13th, an IR Demo Day was held, where ten outstanding developers presented to investors. The grand prize went to Writers Games, developer of the first-person puzzle game “Thanks, Light,” while The Cove, By Witchlight, and Mayfly received excellence awards.
From August 20th to 22nd, IndieCraft operated a booth at Gamescom 2025 in Germany, promoting 69 selected games overseas. Global publishers and investors were deeply impressed by the creativity and gameplay of Korean indie games, and expressed keen interest, including publishing and investment intentions.
From September 19th to 20th, the ‘GXG 2025 x Indiecraft’ exhibition was held in Pangyo, attracting approximately 38,000 visitors. At the final awards ceremony, One&One with ‘Undercity: Creature Survival’ was selected as first place in the mobile category, and Team Horay was selected as first place in the PC/Console category.
Around 280 indie games were showcased at BIC 2025, held in Busan from August 15th to 17th. A diverse range of innovative titles garnered attention, including a newspaper management game set during the Japanese colonial period, “Pungbibaksan,” a rhythm game about running a monster restaurant, and “Monster Inn,” an inn management RPG by solo developer Sail.
Hosted by the Smilegate Future Lab Foundation, a dedicated supporter of indie games, the indie game and culture festival “Beaver Rocks 2025” successfully concluded, attracting 15,000 attendees over three days. Held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul from December 5th to 7th, the event recorded a 50% increase in attendance compared to the previous year, despite adverse weather conditions such as a cold wave and heavy snowfall.
The Korea Indiegame Showcase (KIS), held from December 2nd to 4th, showcased the achievements of 35 indie games supported by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). On Public Day, 100 Supporters and 102 User Evaluators participated, directly experiencing and evaluating the games and sharing their insights. On the final day of the event, four outstanding indie game projects were recognized, with KOCCA President’s Awards and prizes of up to 3 million won awarded to each.
A new K-indie game that’s garnering worldwide attention
Killah
The game ‘Killa’ by the Gyuldan team won the award at the 2nd GYAAR Studio Indie Game Contest held by Bandai Namco Japan, and has also won several awards at the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2023 and Burning Beaver 2023, attracting attention as a next-generation indie game.
“Killa” is a mystery adventure game depicting the protagonist Valhalla’s journey to uncover the truth behind her master’s murder, “Ra,” and swear revenge. Beyond its unique graphics, the game features a unique deduction system called “Resonance” and “Dream,” which uncover hidden truths about characters, along with a unique puppet-like presentation.
The Midnight Walkers
‘The Midnight Walkers’, currently being developed by One Way Ticket Studio, is a first-person PVPVE extraction shooter game. In July, over 240,000 people applied for the global technical test, peaking at 5,300 concurrent users. Recently, the game reached 300,000 Steam Wishlist users, gaining recognition as a representative Korean indie game by word of mouth. Founded in 2023, the developer has grown to a team of over 30 people in just two years, and is currently in the final stages of development to enhance the game’s quality.
Sannabi Side Story: The Day I Was Possessed
This is the first spin-off of “Sannabi,” published by Neowiz and developed by Wonder Potion. The main game proved its immense popularity by raising a whopping 1.435 billion won in merchandise funding in 2024.
Sannabi is a K-indie game that achieved global success with its unique Joseon cyberpunk worldview, dazzling action, and moving story. The spin-off, “The Day I Was Haunted,” released on November 27th, has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam and continues to be just as popular as the main game.
2025 Korea Game Awards: What will be the best game of the month?
At the Korea Game Awards held in November, Lizard Smoothie’s “Shape of Dreams” won both the Indie Game Award and the Excellent Developer Award, achieving remarkable success in its first year. In his acceptance speeches for both awards, CEO Sim Eun-seop expressed gratitude for the project, which began as a job portfolio, receiving such widespread support.
The Good Game Award in the functional game category went to JamJam Therapeutics’ ‘JamJam 400: Pinkfong and JamJam Friends’, which aims to improve cognitive function in children with developmental disabilities.
This month’s Best Game of the Month, released in the first half of 2025, was “Latopia” by Kassel Games, which garnered attention in the indie game category for its design that blends economic simulation and sandbox elements. Studio 806’s “Hug Me Animal Mansion” is an emotionally healing puzzle game utilizing domestic character IP, while CRT Games’ “Snow Bros. 2 Special” is a modern remake of an arcade classic that has achieved success in the global market.
K-Indie Game Market Outlook for 2026
By 2025, the Korean indie game industry had grown significantly both quantitatively and qualitatively. Systematic support from the government and other organizations, the collaborative efforts of major game companies, and, above all, the creativity and passion of developers combined to produce positive results. The success of Shape of Dreams demonstrated that even a two-person development team can succeed in the global market, and this has served as a great inspiration to many aspiring indie developers.
Innovating the development environment with the introduction of AI technology
In 2026, the Korean indie game industry is expected to enter a new phase of growth, driven by a combination of technological innovation and institutional support. In particular, attention will be focused on how far the introduction of AI technology will lead to innovation in the development environment.
The government has allocated a new budget of 7.5 billion won to support the adoption of AI technology in the gaming industry by 2026. AI is expected to shorten 3D modeling tasks from weeks to hours, significantly reducing development time and costs for indie developers working with limited manpower.
On the Steam platform, approximately 20% of new games released in 2025 will utilize generative AI, an eightfold increase from the previous year. Industry experts predict that within the next five to ten years, approximately 50% of all games will be developed using generative AI.
In addition, copyright and ethical issues surrounding the introduction of AI technology are emerging as key challenges in the gaming market in 2026. Valve is requiring proof of appropriate rights acquisition for AI-powered content, and 58% of gamers in the US and UK responded that AI should be used with caution. Finding a balance between the efficiency of AI technology and copyright protection will be a critical challenge in 2026.
The government plans to expand support for indie game production.
The total gaming budget for 2026 reached 112.3 billion won, a 10.5% increase from the previous year. The Korea Creative Content Agency’s content budget increased 8.2% to 705 billion won, with the gaming sector seeing the largest investment increase, with a 10.1 billion won increase.
The Gyeonggi Content Agency (GCCA) will provide up to 80 million won in support to six companies for the production of IP-based, convergent content games, and a total of 500 million won will be invested in localization services for 13 companies for overseas expansion. Furthermore, 12 global game centers located across the country will actively support K-indie games through various programs.
2026 will be a year in which Korean indie games will make a new leap forward, fueled by four key drivers: the AI technological revolution, expanded government support, collaboration with major corporations, and accelerated global expansion. The success of representative K-indie games like Shape of Dreams and Sannabi has proven the global competitiveness of Korean indie games, and this is expected to serve as a springboard for even more success stories in 2026.
