- Exhibition and consultation support for 5 outstanding indie game companies and 6 companies participating in the Korea Indie Game Dev Camp
- Assessing practical capabilities through exhibition and test sessions for 6 games developed by Game Talent Institute trainees
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Content Agency (hereinafter KOCCA) participated in the ‘Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026 (BIC Festival 2026, hereinafter BIC 2026)’ held at BEXCO Exhibition Center 1 in Busan from August 14 to 16, showcasing K-indie games of various genres.
‘BIC 2026’ is Korea’s largest indie game festival, held annually in Busan since 2015, and KOCCA participated as a Platinum Sponsor again this year, following last year. KOCCA focused on promoting the global competitiveness of K-indie games by actively supporting game exhibitions and business matching for participating companies. Together with Pearl Abyss, a leading company of the ‘2026 Korea Indie Game Dev Camp,’ and the Game Talent Institute, KOCCA set up an exhibition space and showcased the achievements in nurturing future game talent.
Demonstration of 5 Outstanding K-Indie Games at Open Joint Pavilion… Support for Exhibition and Business Consultation
KOCCA operated the open joint booth ‘2026 Korea Indie Game Showcase in BIC’ at ‘BIC 2026′ and introduced five excellent indie games carefully selected through its game planning support program. The participating titles include Diving Studio’s , Sun Games’ , Odysseyer’s , Oblivion’s , and Project Morum’s .
As a result of participating in this joint pavilion, performance significantly surpassed the previous year’s results across both B2B and B2C sectors. The number of responses to on-site feedback surveys, a key indicator for game improvement, surged by approximately 72.7% to 772 cases compared to 447 cases last year. Business consultations (Meet to Match) also recorded a total of 24 cases, an increase of about 50% compared to 16 cases last year. In particular, based on average performance per participating company, the number of visitors increased by 73.5% from 132 to 229, and business matching consultations rose by approximately 77.8% from 2.7 to 4.8 cases.
The joint pavilion encouraged visitor participation not only through game experiences but also through a ‘Stamp Participation Event’ linked to registering favorite items and writing reviews on the global game platform Steam. It also hosted a social media ‘Astronaut Decorating’ contest utilizing the representative character ‘Astronaut’ to promote the Korea Indie Game Showcase brand, followed by visitor voting. Furthermore, it solidified the foundation for participating companies’ overseas expansion by providing close support for one-on-one business consultations with domestic and international publishers and investors through the official business matching platform, ‘MeetToMatch.’
Participating companies responded positively to KOCCA’s on-site operational support, including interpretation and merchandise production. An official from one participating company expressed satisfaction, stating, “We were able to hold the event smoothly thanks to close support for exhibition operations that allowed us to focus on game demonstrations and business consultations,” adding, “The response to the provided merchandise was also positive, and far more visitors came to our booth than expected.”
6 Companies Exhibiting at ‘Korea Indie Game Dev Camp’ with Pearl Abyss
At this event, KOCCA also showcased the achievements of developers participating in the ‘2026 Korea Indie Game Dev Camp.’ The Korea Indie Game Dev Camp is a program that discovers promising indie games with creative ideas, provides development grants, and offers phased support including development education, expert guidance and consultation, and collaboration with leading companies.
At the exhibition space of Pearl Abyss, which participated as a leading company this year, six developers participating in Devcamp showcased their games and introduced their development achievements to domestic and international users and industry professionals. The participating titles included Hypertension’s Textura, Harbor Games’ Override: Dissonance, Abnormal’s Breita, Sindoshi’s Structural, Cesi Studio’s Snow White in Wonderland, and Dupoint Games’ Hellgrid.
Six Game Talent Institute Trainees’ Projects Unveiled… Practical Capabilities Assessed Through Expert Evaluation
The Game Talent Institute exhibition hall unveiled six projects developed by trainees. The trainees’ creations, spanning various genres such as strategy, roguelike, puzzle, and action—including ▲Draw the Sword: Workshop Chronicle ▲Baroque ▲Who Is Beth ▲Alice in Boardland ▲Face the Face ▲Yellowjacket—received a great response from visitors.
Lee Eun-seok, a trainee in the Planning Department at the Game Talent Institute, expressed his satisfaction, stating, “A major advantage of the Game Talent Institute’s education is the ability to showcase projects developed directly during the curriculum at exhibitions and refine the work by checking user reactions.” He added, “KOCCA’s support, which extends from development to exhibitions and on-site feedback, was a great help in gaining practical experience.”
KOCCA’s Game Talent Institute is a specialized educational institution dedicated to fostering talent to lead the domestic game industry, providing practical, hands-on training that encompasses all areas of development, including game planning, design, and programming. Through project-based collaborative processes that simulate actual development environments, trainees develop practical skills that enable immediate deployment to the field by proactively leading the entire game development process from planning to launch.
During the event, a test session featuring industry experts and stakeholders was conducted, where trainees demonstrated their self-developed games and received expert evaluations and feedback on various elements, including planning structure, completeness, and user experience (UX). Through this process, they assessed the strengths and areas for improvement of their projects and took the time to refine their future development strategies.
Park Jun-hyeok, a trainee in the Programming Department at the Game Talent Institute, stated, “Based on on-site feedback, I was able to concretize directions for improving the game, such as the UI and tutorials,” adding, “This educational support from the Game Talent Institute was a great help in enhancing the completeness of the work.”
Kim Seong-jun, Head of the New Game Technology Division at KOCCA, stated, “’BIC 2026′ was a meaningful event where we could witness the unique potential of domestic indie game developers and the practical capabilities of future talents nurtured by the Game Talent Institute all in one place,” adding, “We will continue to strengthen customized support throughout the entire cycle, from the initial discovery of indie games with novel ideas to the establishment of a cooperative ecosystem and overseas expansion.”
