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2013 Guide to Korean Games Industry and Culture
WHITE PAPER ON KOREAN GAMES
Korea Creative Content Agency

stands beside those aiming for the promotion
of the content industry of Korea
Korea Creative Content Agency(hereafter kocca) was
established on May 7, 2009 to efficiently support the
growth of the cultural industry by combining Korea
Broadcasting Institute, Korea Culture and Content
Agency, Korea Game Industry Agency, Cultural Contents
Center, and Digital Contents Business Group of Korea IT
Industry Promotion Agency according to Article 31 of the
Framework Act on Cultural Industry Promotion.
kocca is an agency dedicated to promoting all areas for
content. We establish a comprehensive support system
to nurture the content industry, and aim to develop Korea
as one of the world’s top 5 contents powerhouses.
kocca conducts various support businesses to help
Korea’s content industry grow into a global leader in the
creative economy.
First, we promote human resource development projects
to acquire valuable human resource that form the basis
of creativity and develop policies for the promotion of the
content industry. We also support the development of
specialized culture technologies from design to
production, the commercialization of contents, and the
promotion of various overseas expansion projects to
develop the content industry into an export industry.
Furthermore, we encourage digital broadcasting
projects, promote game distribution, and carry out
digitalization projects aimed at strengthening cultural
content which can be used as a subject matter.
kocca will proactively respond to the content
convergence environment, and focus on developing
carefully selected killer contents to lead the global
content market.
2013 Guide to Korean Games Industry and Culture
WHITE PAPER ON KOREAN GAMES
Korea Game Whitepaper 2013
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

3

1. Industry Trends

1.1 Industry Trends
The scale of the domestic game market in 2012 was estimated at 9.752 trillion
won, up 10.8% from the previous year (8.804 trillion won). This shows that the
domestic game market, which switched to growth in 2008 and has maintained a
growth rate of at least 12% annually, has slowed. It is forecasted, however, that the
scale of the domestic game market will be able to exceed 10 trillion won in 2013,
and that its growth will be stably sustained.
The scale of the online game market was calculated to be 6.736 trillion won,
accounting for 69.6% of the domestic game market. While the proportion of the total
game market taken up by online games has increased each year, the share
decreased slightly relative to the previous year (2012). The share of online games
in 2011 was 70.8%. Excluding the retail sector and calculating only the game
production, the proportion of online games in 2011 was 88.9%, but this decreased
slightly to 86% in 2012. Only the online game market’s share of the total game
market decreased, however, and the online game market revenue itself increased.
In the domestic market, online games still have many users based on its stable
infrastructure, and has also managed to stay in the second place in the overseas
markets. Therefore, it is expected that the growth of online games will be sustained
for the time being.
4

1. Industry Trends

|Figure 1| Total Scale of the Domestic Game Market and Growth Rate Trends(2003-2012)
(Unit: 100 million won)
97,525

86,798
101.1%

39,387

74,489

65,806
51,436

43,156

15.8%

88,047

9.6%

74,312

56,047

9.0%

17.4%

12.9%

18.5%

2009

2010

2011

10.8%

-14.2%
-30.9%
2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2012

The sector with the largest revenues after online games is the PC room market.
The revenues in 2012 recorded 1.793 trillion won, accounting for 18.4% of the total
game market. While the total revenues of the PC room market have steadily
decreased over the past few years, there was 4.5% growth in 2012 relative to 2011.
This phenomenon is considered to be due to the influence of the increases in the
number of users due to the launch of blockbuster games such as <Diablo 3> and
to games such as <League of Legends>, which are maintaining solid popularity.
The mobile game market in 2012 grew by about 89.1% relative to 2011, recording
800.9 billion won in revenues, and the market share recorded 8.2%, up 3.4% from
4.8% in 2011. For now, with the expanded supply and improved performance of
smart devices, and with the growth of the mobile advertising industry, the
infrastructure and business models that form the foundation of mobile game
development are forecasted to continue their progress. Accordingly, mobile games
are forecasted to sustain growth.
The video game revenues recorded 161.9 billion won, down about 40.1% from
2011. The market share in the game market recorded 1.6%. As for standing video
game consoles, follow-up models were not launched, and as for portable video game
devices, the sales were low as they lost out in the competition with smartphones.
Therefore, no factors that can drive the growth of the video game market were
found, and as a result, the recession in the video game market worsened.
Arcade game revenues recorded 79.1 billion won, with a market share of 0.8%.
Also, the arcade game room (including video game room) revenues were calculated
at 66.5 billion won, and were found to have a market share of 0.7%. While the
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

5

arcade game revenues are slowly increasing, they are lagging behind the growth of
the total game market and are unable to increase their market share. As for arcade
game rooms, the closing down of road shops, etc. is leading to the continued
shrinkage of their market size.
The PC game market, which recorded 9.6 billion won in revenues in 2011, showed
great growth in 2012, reaching 68 billion won, and was shown to account for 0.7%
of the total game market. This is attributed to the influence of the temporary
increases in game purchases due to the popular games that became a worldwide
sensation, but it is seen that this will not be able to continually drive PC game
market expansion. It is expected that the PC game market will again decrease in
size in the future.
|Figure 2| Market Share by Sector in the 2012 Domestic Game Market
Online Games

Video Games

Mobile Games

PC Games

Arcade Games

(Unit: %)
PC Roomes

Arcade Game Rooms

0.7
18.4
0.8
0.7
8.2
1.6

69.6

1.2 Prospects
In 2013, the domestic game market is forecasted to record a market size of 10.718
trillion won, up 9.9% from 2012. For online games, 8.1% growth relative to 2012 is
expected, and mobile games are forecasted to reach 1.212 trillion won, up 51.4%
from 2012. Also, the arcade game market is forecasted to record 80 billion won, up
1.2% from 2012. Video games are forecasted to record 151.8 billion won, down 5.6%
from 2012; and PC games, 19.8 billion won, down 70.9%. As for game retail, PC
rooms are expected to record 1.861 trillion won, representing 3.8% growth; and
arcade game rooms, 59.6 billion won, down 10.3%.
As for the total game market in 2014 and 2015, it is forecasted that the online
6

1. Industry Trends

and mobile game growth will continue, and that video games will begin new growth.
Here, the growth of online and mobile games is expected to somewhat stabilize from
2014 onwards, with the size of the video game market beginning to grow but with
limited impact on the growth of the total game market due to the large previous
decreases in market size. Therefore, it is expected that the margin of growth for the
game market will decrease relative to the previous years. 2014 is expected to record
11.334 trillion won, up 5.7% from the previous year; and 2015, 11.913 trillion won,
up 5.1%. As for online games, which account for a large part of the domestic game
market, the market size is expected to surpass 7 trillion won in 2013. Also, the 2013
market size for mobile games is forecasted to surpass 1 trillion won.
|Table 1| Size of and Forecasts for the Domestic Game Market (2011-2015)
2011
Year

Revenue

2012

Growth
Rate

Revenue

2013 (E)

Growth
Rate

Revenue

(Unit: 100 million won)

2014 (E)

Growth
Rate

Revenue

2015 (E)

Growth
Rate

Revenue

Growth
Rate

Online Games

62,369

30.8%

67,839

8.8%

73,333

8.1%

78,759

7.4%

83,642

6.2%

Video Games

2,684

-37.1%

1,609

-40.1%

1,518

-5.6%

2,055

35.4%

2,903

41.3%

Mobile Games

4,236

33.8%

8,009

89.1%

12,125

51.4%

13,119

8.2%

14,050

7.1%

PC Games

96

-19.7%

680

608.3%

198

-70.9%

402

103.0%

144

-64.2%

Arcade Games

736

3.0%

791

7.5%

800

1.2%

811

1.4%

821

1.3%

PC Rooms

17,163

-2.5%

17,932

4.5%

18,613

3.8%

17,663

-5.1%

17,097

-3.2%

Arcade Game
Rooms

763

-0.7%

665

-12.8%

596

-10.3%

535

-10.1%

481

-10.0%

Total

88,047

18.5%

97,525

10.8%

107,183

9.9%

113,344

5.7%

119,138

5.1%

1.3 Import-export situation
The overseas exports of the domestic game industry in 2012 were calculated at
USD 2.6 billion in 2012, up 11% from the previous year. The game imports have
grown steadily from 2006 onwards. While the margin of increase for exports varied
slightly each year, the exports of the domestic game market finally surpassed USD
2.5 billion in 2012. The imports of the game industry in 2012 recorded USD 179.13
million in 2012, down 12.6% from the previous year. Continuing from 2011, the
imports dropped greatly in 2012 as well, the main cause being the decreased
revenues for the existing and new models of the major overseas video game
companies, which account for most of the domestic game industry’s imports. Due
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

7

to the increased exports and decreased imports, the difference between the exports
and imports slightly increased to around USD 2.4 billion from approximately USD 2.2
billion in 2011.
The key characteristics of the import and export sector for 2012, as in 2011, were
the intensive online game exports and the large growth in the mobile game exports.
The exports for the single platform of online games surpassed USD 2.4 billion, and
those for mobile games were also found to far surpass USD 100 million.
It is forecasted that the size of the exports by the domestic game industry will
continue to grow in 2013 as well. The market, however, was shown to have slightly
slowed down in terms of the penetration of the Chinese online game market, which
can be said to be the largest export market, and with the increase in small mobile
games in the South Korean game market, the exports are forecasted to maintain
similar levels as in 2012. The exports in 2013 are forecasted to reach approximately
USD 2.9 billion, up 11.2% from the previous year.
|Table 2| Exports and Forecasts for the Domestic Game Market (2007-2013)
Year

(Unit: USD 1,000)

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013 (E)

Export
Amount

781,004

1,093,865

1,240,856

1,606,102

2,378,078

2,638,916

2,934,474

Growth

Exports

2007

16.2%

40.1%

13.4%

29.4%

48.1%

11.0%

11.2%

As for the size and share of exports by platform, first, online game exports
recorded USD 2.4 billion, accounting for 91.4% of the total game exports. Online
game exports still lead the overseas exports of domestic games. The online game
imports, on the other hand, were found to be USD 49.61 million, accounting for
27.7% of the total imports. USD 92.85 million video games were imported,
accounting for 51.8% of the total imports, making them the leading imports. With
decreased video game imports, however, the overall proportion of imports in the
game industry was found to have slightly fallen. The video game exports amounted
to USD 2.18 million, only 0.1% of the total exports. The mobile game exports
recorded USD 168.98 million, close to fivefold growth from the previous year, and
the imports, at USD 8.32 million, also slightly increased relative to the previous year.
The arcade game exports slightly increased to USD 56.83 million, and the imports
were shown to have slightly decreased relative to the previous year, at USD 6.92
million. As for PC games, the imports decreased from the previous year at USD
8

1. Industry Trends

50,000, and the imports, at USD 21.41 million, a more than twofold increase.
|Figure 3| Export/Import Size by Platform in the 2012 Domestic Game Industry

(Unit: USD 1,000)

Exports

Imports

2,638,916

2,410,856

49,616

2,18792,859

168,982
8,327

56,8396,922

52 21,411

Online Games

Video Games

Mobile Games

Arcade Games

PC Games

179,135

Total

Based on the 2012 revenues, the size of the domestic game market was
calculated at USD 7.63 billion, accounting for 6.3% of the USD 111.75 billion world
game market. This represents 0.4% growth relative to the 5.9% recorded in 2011.
Meanwhile, the total size of the world game market decreased by 0.4% from the
previous year. The South Korean game market’s share of the world game market
is still steadily increasing. Considering the somewhat sustained growth in online
games and the rapid growth trends of the mobile game market, it looks as if South
Korea’s share of the world market could slightly increase.
As for the South Korean market’s share of the world market by platform, the
domestic online game market ranked second in the world, accounting for 28.6% of
the world market. The first place in the world online game market continues to be
held by China. Its market share in 2012 grew by more than 10% relative to the
previous year, cementing its position as world number 1. As is evident, the gap
between China and South Korea in the online game market is increasing, as ever.
South Korea, however, managed to widen the gap with the U.S., which maintains the
third place in the world online game market, and is forecasted to solidly hold on
to the second place for the time being.
The market shares of the South Korean video and arcade games in the world
game market are still very small. The proportion of the world game market
accounted for by the domestic video game market was found to be 0.3%, even lower
than that in 2011. As for the proportion of the world game market accounted for by
the domestic arcade game market, it was maintained at 0.5% from the previous
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

9

year. While the size of the video and arcade game markets are trending downward
in the world game market, considering the fact that the two platforms have
maintained the first and second positions in the world market, more aggressive
efforts are required for the expansion of these markets.
The South Korean mobile games continue to expand their share of the world
market. Slight growth from 2.8% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2010 was seen, and the increase
continued to 3.9% in 2011. The rate of expansion slightly increased in 2012 relative
to 2011, and as a result, the world game market share was calculated to be 5.1%.
With the great market success of the games distributed through Kakaotalk gaming,
countless more games were developed, and it is believed that this energized the
mobile game market in general, with subsequent growth in its size as well.
The South Korean PC game market’s share of the world game market was found
to be 0.8% in 2012, up 0.5% from 2011. With the sales from digital downloads
included in the PC game market figures from 2012, some adjustments were made
to the estimation of the size of the world PC game market. In 2012, <Diablo 3>
launched by Blizzard became a worldwide sensation, and it was shown that the
inclusion of its sales led to a large increase in the size of the South Korean PC
game market. The effects of these factors are judged to be transient, however, and
it is forecasted that in the long term, the PC games’ share of the world and South
Korean game markets will steadily decrease.
|Table 3| World Game Market Share of the 2012 Domestic Game Industry(Based on Revenues)
(Unit: USD 1 million)
Year

Online Games

World Game Market

21,083

Video Games Mobile Games
44,315

13,968

PC Games

Arcade Games

All

7,077

25,307

111,750

Domestic Game Market

6,020

143

711

60

129

7,063

Market Share

28.6%

0.3%

5.1%

0.8%

0.5%

6.3%

Based on revenues, the country to which domestic games were exported most in
2012 was China, accounting for 38.6% of the total exports. Recording 0.4% growth
from 2011, China maintained the position of South Korea’s largest export country.
The country with the most domestic game exports after China was Japan, accounting
for 26.7% of the total exports, although its share of the total exports decreased by
0.7% relative to the 27.4% figure in 2011. Following Japan in exports was Southeast
Asia, accounting for 18.8%. Compared with the 18.0% figure in 2011, the share of
10

1. Industry Trends

the Southeast Asian region increased by 0.8%. Following Southeast Asia were North
America at 7.7%, Europe at 6.0%, and other regions at 2.2%. While the exports to
North America slightly increased, the share of exports to Europe and other regions
were shown to have slightly decreased.
As for the proportion of exports to each country by platform, for online games,
as was the case for the overall export market, the exports to China and Japan were
the greatest. Unlike online games, for the mobile game exports, the U.S., with
58.0%, was the largest export country, with Japan following at 25.1%. While the
mobile game exports to Europe slowly increased in 2010 and 2011, recording 9.7 and
9.9%, respectively, the 9.9% figure, identical to that in 2011, was found to have been
maintained in 2012.
|Figure 4| Proportion of 2012 Domestic Game Exports Accounted for by Country(Based on Export Amount)
(Unit: %)

China

Japan

Southeast Asian
Countries
6.0

North American
Countries

European
Countries

Other
Countries

2.2

7.7
38.6
18.8

26.7

1.4 Situation of the game industry workers
The game production/distribution companies in normal operation in 2012
numbered 957. This represents a decrease of 60 from the 1,017 recorded in 2011.
As for the number of PC rooms, the number was 14,782, down approximately 1,000
from 15,817 in 2011. Meanwhile, 450 arcade game rooms were found to be in normal
operation. The total number of workers in the 2012 game industry was found to be
95,051. The workers at the game production and distribution companies numbered
52,466, up 1.2% from the previous year, accounting for 55.2% of the total number
of game industry workers. The game retail and consumption business workers,
numbering 42,585, accounted for 44.8% of the total number of game industry
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

11

workers, down 4.2% from the previous year.
|Table 4| Number of Game Industry Workers (2010-2012)

(Unit: Persons)

Year

2010

2011

2012

2011-2012
Rate of
Change from
Previous Year

2010-2012
Average
Annual Rate
of Change

Ratio

Game Production and
Distribution

48,585

51,859

52,466

1.2%

3.9%

55.2%

PC/Arcade/Video Game
Rooms

46,388

43,156

42,585

-1.3%

-4.2%

44.8%

Change

94,973

95,015

95,051

0.0%

0.0%

100.0%

The average number of workers per company in the game production and
distribution field in 2012 was found to be 54.8 persons. This was a 3.8 person
increase from 51.0 persons in 2011. As for the ratios by work type, graphic design
had the highest ratio (19.9%), followed by game programming development (17.8%),
management (11.1%), game planning (9.7%), game administrator and QA (8.7%), and
customer centers (5.2%).
As for the overall gender composition of the workers, the males were almost
triple the females (73.7% vs. 26.3%). This gender composition was similar to that in
2011.
12

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean
Game Industry
during 2012 and the First Half of 2013

Korea Creative Content Agency collected the opinions of key game industry figures
from the industry, government, and academic circles and conducted surveys to
select the 10 major game industry issues from 2012 to the first half of 2013.
First, for the game-industry-related issues, most were associated with the
stimulation of mobile games and the growth of their market. Mobile games were the
topic of the day so much so that from 2012 to the first half of 2013, no prominent
issues existed in the South Korean game industry other than mobile games. All the
phenomena associated with mobile games, such as the appearance of new game
platforms, the changes in the industrial structure, and the appearance of new trends
in game planning and development, were important issues.
As for policy, in 2012, with the continuation of the regulations enforced from 2011,
continued discussions as to the effectiveness of such regulations were held. With the
announcement of guidelines for banning the speculative operation of Web board
games such as whale hunting games, tensions are rising between the government
and industry regarding regulation and autonomy. With anti-smoking laws set to
come into full effect in the PC room industry, this is also set to remain a hot potato
as the issue was one over which there was a long tug-of-war between the
government and the related industries. Meanwhile, with some game-industry-related
associations appointing current National Assembly members as their new chairmen,
expectations that new linkages between the government and industry will be forged
are on the rise.
As for the game culture, the greatest changes are appearing on the e-sports
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

13

front. There has clearly been a change, in which e-sports have become the most
popular games, and with the implementation of different forms of e-sports league
operation, it is judged that the transition to a new generation is now in full swing.

1) Progress of platforms based on SNS, such as Kakaotalk
The platform with the greatest growth in 2012 was the mobile platform. It was
shown to have grown by at least 80% relative to the previous year, and is forecasted
to record at least 50% growth in 2013 as well. The most influential factor in the
growth of the mobile game market was Kakaotalk, which had been considered
simply a messaging application run on smartphones.
Kakaotalk gaming began being used in earnest from July 2012 onwards, but its
impact on the mobile gaming industry was huge. Kakaotalk quickly reorganized the
mobile game market and established itself as a sure retail platform for mobile
games, making it almost impossible to remember how people accessed and enjoyed
mobile games previously.
The games that were most successful and sensational among those sold through
Kakaotalk were casual games that could be enjoyed with simple controls. As
smartphones were used for purposes other than voice calls mostly over short
periods of time, such as while on the move, these simple casual games matched
such smartphone usage patterns. Another characteristic was that in these games,
the users would compete with others (primarily with acquaintances) based on points.
With the exception of arcade games, games had previously been for the most part
played alone or against people whom one did not know. With users gaming with the
personal connections they had made through Kakaotalk, however, people began
inspecting and managing their personal connections through these simple games.
This is why rather than games that were highly competitive and whose difference
in rewards for wins and losses were large, games that were less competitive and
that allowed for easy exchange of items or gifts among acquaintances gained more
popularity. Based on such, the user profile of the South Korean mobile game market
was diversified. The gender and age groups spanned by this platform reached
beyond those of other game platforms.
Currently, mobile games based on SNS, such as Kakaotalk, have established
themselves as the most typical mobile game type in South Korea. It is forecasted
that SNS will also be the core factor of future mobile game market growth.
14

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry

2) Changes and diversification of mobile game platforms
Before and during the initial stages of widespread smartphone use, mobile games
were mostly based on WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability). With the
widespread use of smartphones, however, the types of mobile game service changed
and became diversified.
Considering the fact that most smartphone-based games are in the form of
applications, Apple App Store and Google Play Store can be mobile game platforms.
Kakaotalk, which opened a new chapter for South Korean mobiles games, also
began as one of many simple applications. For such application-type games, Apple
App Store and Google Play Store can be said to still be important retail channels.
As aforementioned, since the opening of Kakaotalk gaming, Kakotalk has become
in itself a game retail channel. Most of the highest grossing games in Apple App
Store and Google Play Store are based on the Kakao game platform. People
currently using Kakaotalk gaming are not too enthusiastic about encountering and
playing game contents through other retail channels, and the influence of Kakaotalk
gaming as a mobile game retail channel can be said to be great.
Smartphone manufacturers are also moving to establish themselves as new
mobile game retail platforms. All eyes are on their future moves as they are able
to establish market strategies based on the advantage that they are the device
manufacturers. That is, they can, in the process of manufacturing smartphones,
establish a mobile game retail channel within the smartphone in the form of
preloaded applications. For Samsung, for example, ChatOn, a common application of
all smart devices manufactured by Samsung, can be used as a mobile game retail
platform.
Large-game development and retail companies are also entering the market with
proprietary mobile game retail platforms. This is for the goal of securing a stable
base of at least a certain number of users, and for the use of these platforms as
promotion channels. Also, these are evaluated to have high utilization value as game
development or update paths, with the quick collection of feedback from the users
regarding a particular game. Accordingly, it is predicted that the creation and use
of proprietary game retail platforms by game development and retail companies will
increase.
As demonstrated, many actors are entering the related markets in view of the
success of mobile games and the expansion of the industry. The competition among
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

15

various players for mobile game retail platforms is becoming fierce, and the
resulting platform dynamics was a characteristic aspect of the 2012 mobile game
market.

3) Rapid growth of mobile games and appearance of large corporations
in related industries
With the great mobile game sensation and the realization of the potential of
mobile games, many economic actors newly entered the mobile game market.
Among these were individual developers and small to medium-sized development
companies formed by a small number of people, and also companies that had grown
into large corporations based on previous successes in online game development
and operation. The means by which these large corporations participated in the
mobile game market were diverse. In some cases, corporations completely switched
their main area of focus to mobile games, with some newly formed teams put in
charge of mobile game development and operation through the reorganization of
business divisions, and others maintaining their online game development divisions
while founding subsidiaries focusing completely on mobile game development.
With multiple large corporate actors joining the mobile game market, it is
forecasted that the competition will become fierce and that the market will start to
transition into one where the economies of scale are effective. In reality, there is
a trend towards the drafting and execution of marketing strategies on a scale far
larger than before to ensure survival amidst the competition in the mobile game
market, which continues to grow ever more fierce, and from the standpoint of small
and medium-sized companies, it is becoming more and more difficult to shoulder
such large marketing investments. With the continuation of this trend, it seems
likely that the cases wherein small and medium-sized businesses will be acquired
by and merged with large corporations will increase. It is then possible, as observed
in many other markets, that natural oligopolies or monopolies will appear in the
mobile game market and the game market in general.
16

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry

4) Decrease in the number of middle-standing companies in the general
game industry
As for online games, the influence of the highest grossing companies was
traditionally great. These top companies mostly cemented their positions by
sustaining their operation of popular online games while accumulating effective
management know-how through updates, etc. In addition, from 2012 to the first half
of 2013, online-game-based large corporations aggressively entered the mobile
game market, securing new profit sources. Accordingly, the influence of the existing
large corporations in the South Korean game industry generally became even
stronger. As an example, the total 2012 revenues of the 47 companies that
submitted their 2012 business reports to the Electronic Disclosure System of the
Financial Supervisory Commission had increased 10.58% relative to the previous
year. It was shown, however, that the revenues had actually decreased in 27
companies, more than half of the 47 companies. Also, with the total revenues of the
eight major companies with at least 100 billion won in revenues having increased
13.38% relative to the previous year, the concentration of the market became
stronger.
The performance of companies whose traditional business area of focus had been
mobile games, and of companies that had quickly switched to mobile games as their
core business area, was not bad either. With the discovery, however, that the
demand in the mobile game market for simple casual games like <Anypang> or
<Dragon Flight> was high, the individual or small-group entrepreneurship increased.
Accordingly, the situation in the mobile game market was characterized by the
presence and great influence of the existing large corporations, with a sharp
increase in the number of small companies.
As such, the middle-standing companies in the mobile and online game markets
have seen their positions generally decline. While it is a positive fact that the size
of the industry is growing, the increasing seriousness of this winner-takes-all
phenomenon is highly likely to be a minus factor to the game industry in the long
term. Therefore, for the time being, there is an increasing need to furnish the
conditions for corporations that may be small for now to continue growth into the
future and to act as the backbone of the industry.
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

17

5) Decreasing attempts to develop new products
From 2012 to the first half of 2013, several blockbuster games were launched in
the PC and online game markets, giving rise to sensations. During this period,
however, it also became clear that the success formula of online games required
a review. Whereas in the past, a certain amount of profits could be stably created
through only management and operation once a successful online game was
developed, this trend is now weakening. The lifetime of online games is steadily
decreasing. That is, the user loyalty to online games is no longer as steadfast as
before, and the mobility is rising.
In this period, the general focus of attention was of course the mobile game
market. Here, the earliest games that became successful in the mobile game
market were casual games that were not too difficult and that could be started
easily. The profits of these games were not created over long times and through
user loyalty; rather, they would cause a sensation over a short period of time and
maximize the collection of profits based on their short-lived popularity. This can be
said to be similar to the situation with movies, where the securing of the largest
number of screens possible and attracting public attention within the first one to two
weeks after the premiere decides the overall success of the movie.
As for the previous online games, it was possible to invest much time in game
development, mobilizing large volumes of manpower and development funds. The
basis for this was the expectation of high loyalty from the users. With the user
loyalty weakening, however, the situation has changed, making it difficult to set
about developing online games. Accordingly, there has been less news of the
beginning of development for new games or the beginning of beta service. It can be
said that there was a period of adjustment, so to speak, wherein the previously
launched blockbuster games were managed while the situation of the mobile game
market was being monitored.
As for mobile games, the games themselves could not be too difficult, and the
game control interface was limited compared to online games, which use
computers. Therefore, instead of developing new game formats, increased numbers
of simple on- and offline games were transplanted for operation on mobile devices.
Accordingly, the attempts to develop new game formats reflecting the characteristics
of mobile devices further decreased.
18

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry

6) Changes to the Game Rating Board
The amendments to the 「Game Industry Promotion Act」 announced on May 22,
2013 include the abolishment of the Game Rating Board, the introduction of 18+
game ratings, the establishment of the Game Management Board in charge of
follow-up management, etc. of games, and expanding the private sector consignment
scope of the game rating function to include all-ages arcade games. According to
the revised act, the dramatic expansion of the scope of the game rating function
consigned to the private sector led to the abolishment of the Game Rating Board
established in 2006 due to the loss of its intended functions. To take its place, and
according to the need for the management and supervision of private sector rating
organizations and a body for the follow-up management of games, it was decided
to newly establish the Game Management Board.
Actually, the amendments to the 「Game Industry Promotion Act」, which provides
for the adoption of autonomous private sector censorship and the transition to the
Game Rating Board, had been pursued from 2012. The National Assembly, however,
raised the issue of a transition to an actual autonomous censorship system, and
after much debate, the launch of the autonomous censorship body that the game
industry had sought was not realized. Accordingly, the revision of the act was
delayed, with the revised act finally being passed in May 2013.
Thereafter, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism formed a task force for
the establishment of a Game Management Board, and preparations are under way.
The team is composed of committee members appointed or commissioned by the
Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and performs the work of preparing the
articles of association for the board, operation regulations, and formation of the
body. The team is set to be dissolved after completing the registration of the
establishment of the Game Management Board and handing over their tasks, after
which the Game Management Board will begin its normal activities.

7) Web-board-game-related regulations
Regulations on Web board games have continually been a debated issue. The
parts about which the most issues are raised are related to speculation, of which
the core issue is currency exchange. As the exchange of gift certificates won in the
games was the core issue with the speculative operation of arcade games, currency
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

19

exchange in Web board games was also not an issue that could be taken lightly by
the society. What was adopted to address this situation was autonomous regulation
by the industry. The establishment of a 300,000 won limit per person had also been
autonomously decided and proposed by the industry.
In the latter half of 2011, however, cases were discovered wherein the Web board
game industry’s proposed autonomous regulation of a 300,000 won spending limit
was not properly kept. This was taken to signify that the autonomous regulation of
the speculative operation of Web board games was not working properly, which
eventually became a large policy issue. Thereafter, government offices began
actively intervening to prevent the speculative operation of games.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism announced guidelines banning the
speculative operation of go-stop- and poker-type Web board games on October 25,
2010. The key details include limiting the purchase of game money for the go-stopand poker-type Web board games and limiting the maximum bet for one round to
game money corresponding to 10,000 won in cash. Also, when a user loses game
money corresponding to 100,000 won in cash within one day, access to the game is
blocked for two days.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism was expecting to put the revised plan
into effect beginning January 2013, after giving administrative advance notice, but
with delays due to the opposition by the industry and the review by the Regulatory
Reform Commission, such target was not met. In the meantime, the Web board
game industry announced a plan for autonomous regulation, but on August 30, 2013,
the government’s Web board game regulation bill passed the Regulatory Reform
Committee review with partial changes.

8) Enforcement of the PC room no-smoking law
The 「National Health Promotion Act」 revised in 2011 came into effect on June 8,
2013. This revision includes the designation of all PC rooms as non-smoking zones.
Upon the request of the PC room industry, however, a six-month grace period was
set.
Opinions regarding the banning of smoking in PC rooms diverge. Whereas for
smokers, PC rooms may be a rare place where one can smoke comfortably,
smelling cigarette smoke in a PC room may be an unpleasant experience for
non-smokers. As business owners tend to clients who are both smokers and
20

2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry

non-smokers, they have to operate their PC rooms in a way that will satisfy both
sides, with different means of providing an environment where their smoker
customers can smoke. There are some PC rooms that designated separate smoking
and non-smoking zones, separating them with walls to block the cigarette smoke
and smell from the non-smokers, but in other PC rooms, the base minimum, such
as putting up simple signs or partitions, was done. Of course, the non-smokers
using the latter PC rooms would express dissatisfaction regarding the measures
taken by the business owners.
The response of the business owners to the anticipated enforcement of the 「Game
Industry Promotion Act」 varies as well. Some owners have created separate
smoking booths and have provided a notice regarding the non-smoking law in their
PC rooms, and others prefer to wait and observe the situation. As the matter has
been the subject of a long tug-of-war between the government and the industry, it
is forecasted that the effectiveness of the policy, and whether the policy will actually
be observed, will be debated for the time being and even after the enforcement of
the non-smoking law.

9) Changes to the domestic game-related associations
While the government and the industry were engaging in a tug-of-war regarding
some game regulations, some current National Assembly members were elected the
new chairmen of game-related associations. The speculations as to whether the
government and the game industry could forge a new type of relationship grew.
First, assembly member Byeong Heon Jeon of the Democratic United Party was
th

inaugurated as the 5

chairman of Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA). It was

decided on January 24, 2013 that he would be the next chairman, and he took office
on January 29. The slogan announced by assembly member Byeong Heong Jeon at
his inauguration as chairman was “Next e-Sports,” meaning the expansion of
e-sports, departing from the practice of e-sports associations centering on <Starcraft
2> professional game teams. This also communicates the urge to increase the scope
of e-sports to include amateurs and to increase the number of games. Since then,
Korea e-Sports Association has been making efforts to win e-sports fans by hosting
a national family e-sports competition and establishing the National College e-Sports
League (NCEL).
Korea Association of the Game Industry appointed assembly member Gyeong Pil
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

21

Nam of the Saenuri Party as its new chairman. At his inauguration on February 22,
2013, he proposed three objectives: autonomous regulation, social responsibility, and
sustained game industry growth. These reflect the will for autonomously addressing
the game-related problems or issues to show the maturity of the industry, and the
transformation of the negative perceptions of games through social responsibility.
The goal of working towards the sustained growth of the game industry, judged to
be in stagnation, was also established. Korea Association of the Game Industry is
demonstrating efforts to reinvent itself, renaming itself Korea Internet & Digital
Entertainment Association in July 2013.

10) A new e-sports generation
The South Korean e-sports have gone through various changes for more than 10
years. A great change took place between 2012 and the first half of 2013, and
especially worth noting is the fact that the games leading e-sports changed.
<Starcraft> used to be the undisputed leading game, with unrivaled popularity and
fandom. This popularity cooled, however, with the transition from <Starcraft> to
<Starcraft 2>, and its place was taken by <League of Legends>.
Another observable point was that the hosting organization of e-sports
competitions changed. Whereas originally, a separate association or group would
host e-sports competitions, there came about cases wherein the company that
developed the e-sports game directly hosted the competition. That is, the role of
competition-hosting

organizations

was

usurped

by

the

game

development

companies. This is interpreted to be a signal that the game developer companies
have begun to consider e-sports an important element of marketing for their games.
The media providing e-sports broadcasts, originally only cable, now include the
Internet and smart devices, and the various e-sports community activities are
increasing, centering on SNS. Also, with the increasing numbers of paying
spectators for e-sports events, and other never-before-seen phenomena now being
seen, expectations are rising regarding the direction of change in e-sports.
22

3. User Trends

3. User Trends

3.1 Research summary
From March 14 to 21, 2013, Korea Creative Contents Agency conducted a survey
of game users aged 9 to 49 who purchased or used game-related products in the
six months prior to the survey date among the general public. The survey was
conducted in the five major South Korean cities of Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju,
and Busan.
The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,000 participants chosen via
proportionated quota sampling with consideration of population sizes by gender,
region, and age. The survey was conducted online and included questions on the
game-related standard of living, manner of game usage and consumption, and
perception of games of the respondents.

3.2 Major analysis results
3.2.1 Reasons for gaming
As for the responses to the question of why they played games, the most common
response was “for fun” (34.7%), followed by “stress release” (31.3%) and “using
spare time” (15.9%). Most of the male respondents played games for “stress
release” (35.1%) while most of the female respondents played games “for fun”
(38.2%). Overall, most of the respondents aged up to 24 answered “for fun” while
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

23

most of the respondents who were at least 25 years old answered “stress release.”

|Figure 5| Reasons for Gaming

Because
it's fun

To ease
stress

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

To spend
leisure time

0.3
0.9
5.0
11.9

0.4
1.2
3.7
15.3

0.2
0.6
6.3
8.4

16.5

5.5
11.7

15.9

12.9

19.0

3.8
11.4

7.6

1.3

20.0
31.3

35.1

31.4

All

Males

1.3
3.8
5.1

13.9

13.1

18.9

19.7

21.2

32.8

33.3

32.1

40.9

44.3

27.8

26.5

28.5

25.9

24.1

25~29
years
old

30~34
years
old

35~39
years
old

40~44
years
old

45~49
years
old

20.0

38.2

9~14
years
old

0.5
0.5
7.3
7.8

Others

0.8
1.5
6.1
12.1

1.7
5.0

10.9

Community in
cyber space
5.1

17.1

21.5

55.2

38.2

Females

Habitually

1.8
3.6

25.5

27.3
67.1

34.7

To get along
with friends

15~19
years
old

20~24
years
old

3.2.2 Average daily gaming time
For the average daily gaming time on weekdays and weekends, the respondents
were found to spend 129.9 minutes per day on gaming during weekdays, and 166.5
minutes per day on weekends.
For weekday gaming, the male respondents spent 141.4 minutes per day on
gaming, about 23 minutes longer than the female respondents’ 117.8 minutes. This
trend is the same on weekends. On weekends, the male respondents spend 188.0
minutes on games while the female respondents spend 143.6 minutes, with the
former spending about 44 minutes more on gaming than the latter.
As for the weekend gaming time, the respondents aged 15-19 showed the longest
time (204.3 minutes), and those aged 9-14 showed the shortest gaming time (123.5
minutes). In contrast, those aged 35-39 showed the longest gaming time on
weekdays (140.5 minutes), and those aged 9-14 showed the shortest gaming time
(97.3 minutes).
24

3. User Trends

|Figure 6| Average Daily Gaming Time

(Unit: Minutes, n=1,000)

Weekdays
204.3

188.0

175.0

170.2

166.5
129.9

Weekend

143.6

141.4

117.8

123.5

137.1

137.3

136.4

185.2
162.9
131.3

140.5

155.8
141.0
126.0
121.5

97.3

All

Males

Females

9~14
years
old

15~19
years
old

20~24
years
old

25~29
years
old

30~34
years
old

35~39
years
old

40~44
years
old

45~49
years
old

3.2.3 Most commonly used game platform
As for the most commonly used game platforms, “online games” (38.7%) had the
highest frequency of first-choice responses, followed by “mobile games” (33.1%) and
“PC package games” (14.5%). The male respondents were shown to use online
games the most (51.0%), and the female respondents, mobile games (45.9%).
|Figure 7| Most Commonly Used Game Platform by Gender

Online Games
3.5
4.8
5.4
14.5
33.1

38.7

All

Moblie Games

PC Games
2.0
5.3
2.2
18.8

Portable Games

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

Video Games

Arcade Games

5.1
4.3
8.8
10.0

20.8
45.9
51.0
25.9

Males

Females

In the age group of 24 and below, the use of online games was most active, and
in the age group of 35 and above, the ratio of PC package game use was relatively
high compared to the other age groups.
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

|Figure 8| Most Commonly Used Game Platform by Age

Online Games
9~14
years old
15~19
years old
20~24
years old
25~29
years old
30~34
years old
35~39
years old
40~44
years old
45~49
years old

Moblie Games

PC Games

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

Portable Games

57.0

Video Games

Arcade Games

32.9

51.0

2.52.52.52.5

31.0

56.4

8.3
29.1

34.4

33.9

31.1

31.6

3.3
3.8

3.6 4.4 3.6

18.1
31.6

7.2
7.6

9.8
21.9

34.2

36.7

7.2

13.6

34.3

3.42.1 4.1
9.1 1.81.81.8

13.9

34.1

32.1

25

5.2 5.7
22.8

5.2

6.3 2.5

3.2.4 Most common gaming time
In the investigation of the time when games were mostly used, the proportion of
“6-10PM” was found to be the highest (42.2%). This was followed by “10PM-2AM”
(30.2%) and “12-6PM” (25.4%). As for the gaming time by age group, the response
“12-6PM” was most common for the 9-14 age group (51.9%) while the response
“6-10PM” was most common for the 20-24 age group (56.4%). Meanwhile, the
response “10PM-2AM” was relatively common in the 25-39 age group.
|Figure 9| Most Common Gaming Time by Gender

6 a.m. ~ 12 p.m.

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

12 ~ 6 p.m.

6 ~ 10 p.m.

10 p.m. ~ 2 a.m.

0.4

0.4

0.4

30.2

32.0

28.4

42.2

44.1

25.4

21.6

40.2

29.4

1.8

2.0

1.6

All

Males

Females

2 ~ 6 a.m.
26

3. User Trends

|Figure 10| Most Common Gaming Time by Age

6 a.m. ~ 12 p.m.
9~14
years old
15~19
years old
20~24
years old
25~29
years old
30~34
years old
35~39
years old
40~44
years old
45~49
years old

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

12 ~ 6 p.m.

6 ~ 10 p.m.

51.9
0.7
1.8
1.1
2.3
2.2
2.1

10 p.m. ~ 2 a.m.
40.5

30.3
20.0

20.0

56.4

20.0

43.9

20.5

35.6

40.9
29.0

39.4
36.8

26.6

1.8
1.7

36.7

41.7

17.5

5.1

7.6

49.0

16.7

2 ~ 6 a.m.

32.1

34.2

34.2

3.2.5 Preferred game platform and genre
As for the reason for the preference of a specific game platform, the most
common response was “most readily accessible” (38.1%), followed by “convenience
of use regardless of location” (24.7%) and “most used by friends” (18.3%). More men
(24.1%) than women (12.2%) answered “used by friends.” That is, men were found
to have a greater tendency to establish relationships with friends through the
medium of games.
The 20-24 age group had the most “most readily accessible” responses (56.4%)
while “convenience of use regardless of location” was most common in the 45-49
age group (31.6%), and the response “most used by friends” was most common in
the 9-14 age group (30.4%).
|Figure 11| Reason for Choice of Preferred Game Platform by Gender

It is the easiest to use
It can be played for a long time
Others

All

Males

Females

It can be used easily regardless of place
It is very realistic

24.7

38.1

32.2

It is used the most by friends
It is cheap

18.3

20.6

44.3

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

24.1

29.0

9.3

11.8

12.2

4.6 2.42.6

6.7 2.02.7

6.7 2.42.92.4
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

|Figure 12| Reason for Choice of Preferred Game Platform by Age

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

It can be used easily regardless of place
It is very realistic

It is the easiest to use
It can be played for a long time
Others

It is used the most by friends
It is cheap

1.5
2.3
3.8
10.6

20.0

15.9

28.8

24.8

36.7

37.1

36.5

41.5

25~29
years old

30~34
years old

35~39
years old

40~44
years old

1.8
1.8
3.6

7.6
3.4
4.1

27.3

13.1

30.4

2.2
1.1
3.9
10.0

26.1

2.5
3.8
5.1

1.6
3.1
5.2
8.8

9.5
16.8

1.3
1.3
7.6
7.6

10.4

1.5
2.2
8.8

9.1

22.1
11.4

27

15.2

29.5

31.6

22.1
56.4

46.8
27.6

9~14
years old

15~19
years old

20~24
years old

|Figure 13| Preferred Game Genre

Casual Game

8.5
11.6
8.4

FPS/TPS

4.1
8.0

Sports Game

3.9

Web Board Game

3.9

1.4

Adventure
0.8

4.7

2.9
3.1
2.7
2.8
2.0
3.7
2.2

3.7
1.5
2.4
0.6
3.1
2.4
3.9

12.0

12.0
7.8

3.1

12.5

7.9

4.4

1.2

Racing

Others

13.3

4.9
5.5

16.3
23.5

9.2

Business/Construction/
Training Simulation

Action

14.3

5.5

RTS

Music

Males
23.7

Role Playing

Battle Action Game

45~49
years old

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

All

Educational Game

35.4

Females
30.8
28

3. User Trends

The most preferred game genre was “role playing” (23.7%), followed by “casual
games” (14.3%), “RTS” (9.2%), and “management/construction/cultivation simulation”
(8.5%). The male respondents preferred “role playing” (30.8%), “RTS” (13.3%),
“FPS/TPS” (12.5%), and “sports” (12.0%) whereas the female respondents preferred
“casual games” (23.5%), “role playing” (16.3%), and “Web/board games” (12.0%),
showing that the preferred game genres differed by gender.
3.2.6 Reasons for choosing games
As for the important factors considered when selecting games, 46.2% of all the
respondents answered “genre,” followed by “content/material/background” (19.1%)
and “recommendation of game users” (18.3%). More men than women answered
“genre” (51.0% vs. 41.2%), and the answer “content/material/background” was
relatively more common among the female respondents than among the male
respondents (21.8% vs. 16.5%).
|Figure 14| Reasons for Choosing Games by Gender

Genre
Production company
1.2
3.1
3.3
3.7
5.1

Content/Subject matter/Background
Graphic/Sound

18.3

1.0
2.2
3.1
4.1
4.7
17.5

19.1

16.5

46.2

51.0

All

Males

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

Recommendation by gamers
Significance/Educational value

Character
Others

1.4
4.1
3.5
3.3
5.5
19.2
21.8

41.2

Females

While the response “genre” was most common across all age groups, the
response “content/material/background” was relatively common only in the 40-49
age group.
2013 White Paper on Korean Games

|Figure 15| Reasons for Choosing Games by Age

Genre
Production company

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

Content/Subject matter/Background
Graphic/Sound

Recommendation by gamers
Significance/Educational value

2.1
2.8
4.8
4.8
15.2

3.6
5.5
1.8
1.8
20.0

0.6
2.2
1.1
6.7
5.6

5.3
3.8
1.5
3.8

1.5
2.2
5.8
1.5
3.6

18.9

21.2

21.2

15.2

18.6

16.4

15.6

18.9

15.3

49.4

51.7

49.4

45.5

48.9

9~14
years old,

15~19
years old

25~29
years old

30~34
years old

35~39
years old

3.8
1.3
1.3
8.9
20.3

50.9

20~24
years old

29

Character
Others

2.1
3.6
3.6
4.7
6.2

8.9
3.8
3.8
5.1

15.0

17.7

26.4

22.8

38.3

38.0

40~44
years old

45~49
years old

3.2.7 Platform to lead the future domestic game market
As for the most likely platform to lead the future domestic game market, the first
place went to mobile games (57.5%), followed by online games (33.9%) and PC
package games (3.7%). More women than men (66.7% vs. 48.6%) answered “mobile
games,” and more men than women (42.7% vs. 24.7%) answered “online games.”
|Figure 16| Platform to Lead the Future Domestic Game Market

Moblie Games
1.1
1.5
2.3
3.7
33.9

57.5

All

Online Games

PC Games

Portable Games

0.8
2.4
1.4
4.1
42.7

48.6

Males

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

Video Games

Arcade Games

1.4
0.6
3.3
3.3
24.7

66.7

Females

3.2 8 Genre to lead the future domestic game market
“Role playing” was the most common first choice (33.0%) for the genre that will
lead the future domestic game market, also ranking first in the overall ranking
(44.0%) reflecting multiple answers. For the first-choice responses, “role playing”
30

3. User Trends

was followed by “casual games” (10.6%) and “FPS/TPS” (8.0%). Based on overall
ranking, however, “FPS/TPS” (21.5%) and “casual games” (18.5%) were ranked
second and third, respectively, differing from the first-choice response ranking.
For the first-choice responses, most of both the male and female respondents
answered “role playing,” but more women than men (15.5% vs. 5.9%) answered
“casual games.” The response “role playing” was relatively more common in the 20s
age group than in the other age groups. The proportion of “FPS/TPS” responses in
the 15-19 age group (18.6%) was very high compared to that in the other age groups.
|Figure 17| Genre to Lead the Future Domestic Game Market

(Unit: %, n=1,000)

1 rank

44.0

Total(1rank + 2rank)

33.0

4.7

8.8
3.5

7.2 8.7 8.2 5.5 6.8 6.4
4.5 4.7 3.5
0.1
3.4 3.2 3.2 3.1 2.7 1.9 1.7 1.4
1.1 0.1

Othe
rs

5.4

Mus
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Web
Boar
d Ga
me
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e for
prize

5.6

11.3 10.2

Adve
ntur
e
Expe
rienc
ing G
ame
Shoo
ting
Child
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e

7.4

Actio
n

8.0

Racin
g
Battl
e Ac
tion
Gam
e

14.8 14.8

FPS/
TPS
Busin
e
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ing S structio
imula n
tion

Role
Play
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Casu
al Ga
me

10.6

21.5

RTS
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Educ
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18.5
Information on Contents Industry
Korea Creative Content Agency,
250-15 Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea
(Postal code: 121-904)
PHONE: 82-1566-1114
FAX: 82-2-3153-1115
URL: www.kocca.kr

Overseas Branch
KOCCA USA (LA)
5509 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles,
CA 90036
PHONE: 1-323-935-5001

KOCCA China (Beijing)
Rm 709, Office Tower 1, Henderson Center,
18 Jian Guo Men Nei Avenue,
Beijing, China
PHONE: 86-10-6518-7345

KOCCA Japan (Tokyo)
Korea Center B/D 7F,
4-4-10, Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku,
Tokyo 162-0826, Japan
PHONE: 81-3-5363-4510

KOCCA Europe (London)
2F 2 Conduit St. London W1S 2XB, UK
PHONE: 44-20-7016-3330

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Korea Game Whitepaper 2013

  • 1. 2013 Guide to Korean Games Industry and Culture WHITE PAPER ON KOREAN GAMES
  • 2. Korea Creative Content Agency stands beside those aiming for the promotion of the content industry of Korea Korea Creative Content Agency(hereafter kocca) was established on May 7, 2009 to efficiently support the growth of the cultural industry by combining Korea Broadcasting Institute, Korea Culture and Content Agency, Korea Game Industry Agency, Cultural Contents Center, and Digital Contents Business Group of Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency according to Article 31 of the Framework Act on Cultural Industry Promotion. kocca is an agency dedicated to promoting all areas for content. We establish a comprehensive support system to nurture the content industry, and aim to develop Korea as one of the world’s top 5 contents powerhouses. kocca conducts various support businesses to help Korea’s content industry grow into a global leader in the creative economy. First, we promote human resource development projects to acquire valuable human resource that form the basis of creativity and develop policies for the promotion of the content industry. We also support the development of specialized culture technologies from design to production, the commercialization of contents, and the promotion of various overseas expansion projects to develop the content industry into an export industry. Furthermore, we encourage digital broadcasting projects, promote game distribution, and carry out digitalization projects aimed at strengthening cultural content which can be used as a subject matter. kocca will proactively respond to the content convergence environment, and focus on developing carefully selected killer contents to lead the global content market.
  • 3. 2013 Guide to Korean Games Industry and Culture WHITE PAPER ON KOREAN GAMES
  • 5. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 3 1. Industry Trends 1.1 Industry Trends The scale of the domestic game market in 2012 was estimated at 9.752 trillion won, up 10.8% from the previous year (8.804 trillion won). This shows that the domestic game market, which switched to growth in 2008 and has maintained a growth rate of at least 12% annually, has slowed. It is forecasted, however, that the scale of the domestic game market will be able to exceed 10 trillion won in 2013, and that its growth will be stably sustained. The scale of the online game market was calculated to be 6.736 trillion won, accounting for 69.6% of the domestic game market. While the proportion of the total game market taken up by online games has increased each year, the share decreased slightly relative to the previous year (2012). The share of online games in 2011 was 70.8%. Excluding the retail sector and calculating only the game production, the proportion of online games in 2011 was 88.9%, but this decreased slightly to 86% in 2012. Only the online game market’s share of the total game market decreased, however, and the online game market revenue itself increased. In the domestic market, online games still have many users based on its stable infrastructure, and has also managed to stay in the second place in the overseas markets. Therefore, it is expected that the growth of online games will be sustained for the time being.
  • 6. 4 1. Industry Trends |Figure 1| Total Scale of the Domestic Game Market and Growth Rate Trends(2003-2012) (Unit: 100 million won) 97,525 86,798 101.1% 39,387 74,489 65,806 51,436 43,156 15.8% 88,047 9.6% 74,312 56,047 9.0% 17.4% 12.9% 18.5% 2009 2010 2011 10.8% -14.2% -30.9% 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2012 The sector with the largest revenues after online games is the PC room market. The revenues in 2012 recorded 1.793 trillion won, accounting for 18.4% of the total game market. While the total revenues of the PC room market have steadily decreased over the past few years, there was 4.5% growth in 2012 relative to 2011. This phenomenon is considered to be due to the influence of the increases in the number of users due to the launch of blockbuster games such as <Diablo 3> and to games such as <League of Legends>, which are maintaining solid popularity. The mobile game market in 2012 grew by about 89.1% relative to 2011, recording 800.9 billion won in revenues, and the market share recorded 8.2%, up 3.4% from 4.8% in 2011. For now, with the expanded supply and improved performance of smart devices, and with the growth of the mobile advertising industry, the infrastructure and business models that form the foundation of mobile game development are forecasted to continue their progress. Accordingly, mobile games are forecasted to sustain growth. The video game revenues recorded 161.9 billion won, down about 40.1% from 2011. The market share in the game market recorded 1.6%. As for standing video game consoles, follow-up models were not launched, and as for portable video game devices, the sales were low as they lost out in the competition with smartphones. Therefore, no factors that can drive the growth of the video game market were found, and as a result, the recession in the video game market worsened. Arcade game revenues recorded 79.1 billion won, with a market share of 0.8%. Also, the arcade game room (including video game room) revenues were calculated at 66.5 billion won, and were found to have a market share of 0.7%. While the
  • 7. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 5 arcade game revenues are slowly increasing, they are lagging behind the growth of the total game market and are unable to increase their market share. As for arcade game rooms, the closing down of road shops, etc. is leading to the continued shrinkage of their market size. The PC game market, which recorded 9.6 billion won in revenues in 2011, showed great growth in 2012, reaching 68 billion won, and was shown to account for 0.7% of the total game market. This is attributed to the influence of the temporary increases in game purchases due to the popular games that became a worldwide sensation, but it is seen that this will not be able to continually drive PC game market expansion. It is expected that the PC game market will again decrease in size in the future. |Figure 2| Market Share by Sector in the 2012 Domestic Game Market Online Games Video Games Mobile Games PC Games Arcade Games (Unit: %) PC Roomes Arcade Game Rooms 0.7 18.4 0.8 0.7 8.2 1.6 69.6 1.2 Prospects In 2013, the domestic game market is forecasted to record a market size of 10.718 trillion won, up 9.9% from 2012. For online games, 8.1% growth relative to 2012 is expected, and mobile games are forecasted to reach 1.212 trillion won, up 51.4% from 2012. Also, the arcade game market is forecasted to record 80 billion won, up 1.2% from 2012. Video games are forecasted to record 151.8 billion won, down 5.6% from 2012; and PC games, 19.8 billion won, down 70.9%. As for game retail, PC rooms are expected to record 1.861 trillion won, representing 3.8% growth; and arcade game rooms, 59.6 billion won, down 10.3%. As for the total game market in 2014 and 2015, it is forecasted that the online
  • 8. 6 1. Industry Trends and mobile game growth will continue, and that video games will begin new growth. Here, the growth of online and mobile games is expected to somewhat stabilize from 2014 onwards, with the size of the video game market beginning to grow but with limited impact on the growth of the total game market due to the large previous decreases in market size. Therefore, it is expected that the margin of growth for the game market will decrease relative to the previous years. 2014 is expected to record 11.334 trillion won, up 5.7% from the previous year; and 2015, 11.913 trillion won, up 5.1%. As for online games, which account for a large part of the domestic game market, the market size is expected to surpass 7 trillion won in 2013. Also, the 2013 market size for mobile games is forecasted to surpass 1 trillion won. |Table 1| Size of and Forecasts for the Domestic Game Market (2011-2015) 2011 Year Revenue 2012 Growth Rate Revenue 2013 (E) Growth Rate Revenue (Unit: 100 million won) 2014 (E) Growth Rate Revenue 2015 (E) Growth Rate Revenue Growth Rate Online Games 62,369 30.8% 67,839 8.8% 73,333 8.1% 78,759 7.4% 83,642 6.2% Video Games 2,684 -37.1% 1,609 -40.1% 1,518 -5.6% 2,055 35.4% 2,903 41.3% Mobile Games 4,236 33.8% 8,009 89.1% 12,125 51.4% 13,119 8.2% 14,050 7.1% PC Games 96 -19.7% 680 608.3% 198 -70.9% 402 103.0% 144 -64.2% Arcade Games 736 3.0% 791 7.5% 800 1.2% 811 1.4% 821 1.3% PC Rooms 17,163 -2.5% 17,932 4.5% 18,613 3.8% 17,663 -5.1% 17,097 -3.2% Arcade Game Rooms 763 -0.7% 665 -12.8% 596 -10.3% 535 -10.1% 481 -10.0% Total 88,047 18.5% 97,525 10.8% 107,183 9.9% 113,344 5.7% 119,138 5.1% 1.3 Import-export situation The overseas exports of the domestic game industry in 2012 were calculated at USD 2.6 billion in 2012, up 11% from the previous year. The game imports have grown steadily from 2006 onwards. While the margin of increase for exports varied slightly each year, the exports of the domestic game market finally surpassed USD 2.5 billion in 2012. The imports of the game industry in 2012 recorded USD 179.13 million in 2012, down 12.6% from the previous year. Continuing from 2011, the imports dropped greatly in 2012 as well, the main cause being the decreased revenues for the existing and new models of the major overseas video game companies, which account for most of the domestic game industry’s imports. Due
  • 9. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 7 to the increased exports and decreased imports, the difference between the exports and imports slightly increased to around USD 2.4 billion from approximately USD 2.2 billion in 2011. The key characteristics of the import and export sector for 2012, as in 2011, were the intensive online game exports and the large growth in the mobile game exports. The exports for the single platform of online games surpassed USD 2.4 billion, and those for mobile games were also found to far surpass USD 100 million. It is forecasted that the size of the exports by the domestic game industry will continue to grow in 2013 as well. The market, however, was shown to have slightly slowed down in terms of the penetration of the Chinese online game market, which can be said to be the largest export market, and with the increase in small mobile games in the South Korean game market, the exports are forecasted to maintain similar levels as in 2012. The exports in 2013 are forecasted to reach approximately USD 2.9 billion, up 11.2% from the previous year. |Table 2| Exports and Forecasts for the Domestic Game Market (2007-2013) Year (Unit: USD 1,000) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 (E) Export Amount 781,004 1,093,865 1,240,856 1,606,102 2,378,078 2,638,916 2,934,474 Growth Exports 2007 16.2% 40.1% 13.4% 29.4% 48.1% 11.0% 11.2% As for the size and share of exports by platform, first, online game exports recorded USD 2.4 billion, accounting for 91.4% of the total game exports. Online game exports still lead the overseas exports of domestic games. The online game imports, on the other hand, were found to be USD 49.61 million, accounting for 27.7% of the total imports. USD 92.85 million video games were imported, accounting for 51.8% of the total imports, making them the leading imports. With decreased video game imports, however, the overall proportion of imports in the game industry was found to have slightly fallen. The video game exports amounted to USD 2.18 million, only 0.1% of the total exports. The mobile game exports recorded USD 168.98 million, close to fivefold growth from the previous year, and the imports, at USD 8.32 million, also slightly increased relative to the previous year. The arcade game exports slightly increased to USD 56.83 million, and the imports were shown to have slightly decreased relative to the previous year, at USD 6.92 million. As for PC games, the imports decreased from the previous year at USD
  • 10. 8 1. Industry Trends 50,000, and the imports, at USD 21.41 million, a more than twofold increase. |Figure 3| Export/Import Size by Platform in the 2012 Domestic Game Industry (Unit: USD 1,000) Exports Imports 2,638,916 2,410,856 49,616 2,18792,859 168,982 8,327 56,8396,922 52 21,411 Online Games Video Games Mobile Games Arcade Games PC Games 179,135 Total Based on the 2012 revenues, the size of the domestic game market was calculated at USD 7.63 billion, accounting for 6.3% of the USD 111.75 billion world game market. This represents 0.4% growth relative to the 5.9% recorded in 2011. Meanwhile, the total size of the world game market decreased by 0.4% from the previous year. The South Korean game market’s share of the world game market is still steadily increasing. Considering the somewhat sustained growth in online games and the rapid growth trends of the mobile game market, it looks as if South Korea’s share of the world market could slightly increase. As for the South Korean market’s share of the world market by platform, the domestic online game market ranked second in the world, accounting for 28.6% of the world market. The first place in the world online game market continues to be held by China. Its market share in 2012 grew by more than 10% relative to the previous year, cementing its position as world number 1. As is evident, the gap between China and South Korea in the online game market is increasing, as ever. South Korea, however, managed to widen the gap with the U.S., which maintains the third place in the world online game market, and is forecasted to solidly hold on to the second place for the time being. The market shares of the South Korean video and arcade games in the world game market are still very small. The proportion of the world game market accounted for by the domestic video game market was found to be 0.3%, even lower than that in 2011. As for the proportion of the world game market accounted for by the domestic arcade game market, it was maintained at 0.5% from the previous
  • 11. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 9 year. While the size of the video and arcade game markets are trending downward in the world game market, considering the fact that the two platforms have maintained the first and second positions in the world market, more aggressive efforts are required for the expansion of these markets. The South Korean mobile games continue to expand their share of the world market. Slight growth from 2.8% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2010 was seen, and the increase continued to 3.9% in 2011. The rate of expansion slightly increased in 2012 relative to 2011, and as a result, the world game market share was calculated to be 5.1%. With the great market success of the games distributed through Kakaotalk gaming, countless more games were developed, and it is believed that this energized the mobile game market in general, with subsequent growth in its size as well. The South Korean PC game market’s share of the world game market was found to be 0.8% in 2012, up 0.5% from 2011. With the sales from digital downloads included in the PC game market figures from 2012, some adjustments were made to the estimation of the size of the world PC game market. In 2012, <Diablo 3> launched by Blizzard became a worldwide sensation, and it was shown that the inclusion of its sales led to a large increase in the size of the South Korean PC game market. The effects of these factors are judged to be transient, however, and it is forecasted that in the long term, the PC games’ share of the world and South Korean game markets will steadily decrease. |Table 3| World Game Market Share of the 2012 Domestic Game Industry(Based on Revenues) (Unit: USD 1 million) Year Online Games World Game Market 21,083 Video Games Mobile Games 44,315 13,968 PC Games Arcade Games All 7,077 25,307 111,750 Domestic Game Market 6,020 143 711 60 129 7,063 Market Share 28.6% 0.3% 5.1% 0.8% 0.5% 6.3% Based on revenues, the country to which domestic games were exported most in 2012 was China, accounting for 38.6% of the total exports. Recording 0.4% growth from 2011, China maintained the position of South Korea’s largest export country. The country with the most domestic game exports after China was Japan, accounting for 26.7% of the total exports, although its share of the total exports decreased by 0.7% relative to the 27.4% figure in 2011. Following Japan in exports was Southeast Asia, accounting for 18.8%. Compared with the 18.0% figure in 2011, the share of
  • 12. 10 1. Industry Trends the Southeast Asian region increased by 0.8%. Following Southeast Asia were North America at 7.7%, Europe at 6.0%, and other regions at 2.2%. While the exports to North America slightly increased, the share of exports to Europe and other regions were shown to have slightly decreased. As for the proportion of exports to each country by platform, for online games, as was the case for the overall export market, the exports to China and Japan were the greatest. Unlike online games, for the mobile game exports, the U.S., with 58.0%, was the largest export country, with Japan following at 25.1%. While the mobile game exports to Europe slowly increased in 2010 and 2011, recording 9.7 and 9.9%, respectively, the 9.9% figure, identical to that in 2011, was found to have been maintained in 2012. |Figure 4| Proportion of 2012 Domestic Game Exports Accounted for by Country(Based on Export Amount) (Unit: %) China Japan Southeast Asian Countries 6.0 North American Countries European Countries Other Countries 2.2 7.7 38.6 18.8 26.7 1.4 Situation of the game industry workers The game production/distribution companies in normal operation in 2012 numbered 957. This represents a decrease of 60 from the 1,017 recorded in 2011. As for the number of PC rooms, the number was 14,782, down approximately 1,000 from 15,817 in 2011. Meanwhile, 450 arcade game rooms were found to be in normal operation. The total number of workers in the 2012 game industry was found to be 95,051. The workers at the game production and distribution companies numbered 52,466, up 1.2% from the previous year, accounting for 55.2% of the total number of game industry workers. The game retail and consumption business workers, numbering 42,585, accounted for 44.8% of the total number of game industry
  • 13. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 11 workers, down 4.2% from the previous year. |Table 4| Number of Game Industry Workers (2010-2012) (Unit: Persons) Year 2010 2011 2012 2011-2012 Rate of Change from Previous Year 2010-2012 Average Annual Rate of Change Ratio Game Production and Distribution 48,585 51,859 52,466 1.2% 3.9% 55.2% PC/Arcade/Video Game Rooms 46,388 43,156 42,585 -1.3% -4.2% 44.8% Change 94,973 95,015 95,051 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% The average number of workers per company in the game production and distribution field in 2012 was found to be 54.8 persons. This was a 3.8 person increase from 51.0 persons in 2011. As for the ratios by work type, graphic design had the highest ratio (19.9%), followed by game programming development (17.8%), management (11.1%), game planning (9.7%), game administrator and QA (8.7%), and customer centers (5.2%). As for the overall gender composition of the workers, the males were almost triple the females (73.7% vs. 26.3%). This gender composition was similar to that in 2011.
  • 14. 12 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry during 2012 and the First Half of 2013 Korea Creative Content Agency collected the opinions of key game industry figures from the industry, government, and academic circles and conducted surveys to select the 10 major game industry issues from 2012 to the first half of 2013. First, for the game-industry-related issues, most were associated with the stimulation of mobile games and the growth of their market. Mobile games were the topic of the day so much so that from 2012 to the first half of 2013, no prominent issues existed in the South Korean game industry other than mobile games. All the phenomena associated with mobile games, such as the appearance of new game platforms, the changes in the industrial structure, and the appearance of new trends in game planning and development, were important issues. As for policy, in 2012, with the continuation of the regulations enforced from 2011, continued discussions as to the effectiveness of such regulations were held. With the announcement of guidelines for banning the speculative operation of Web board games such as whale hunting games, tensions are rising between the government and industry regarding regulation and autonomy. With anti-smoking laws set to come into full effect in the PC room industry, this is also set to remain a hot potato as the issue was one over which there was a long tug-of-war between the government and the related industries. Meanwhile, with some game-industry-related associations appointing current National Assembly members as their new chairmen, expectations that new linkages between the government and industry will be forged are on the rise. As for the game culture, the greatest changes are appearing on the e-sports
  • 15. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 13 front. There has clearly been a change, in which e-sports have become the most popular games, and with the implementation of different forms of e-sports league operation, it is judged that the transition to a new generation is now in full swing. 1) Progress of platforms based on SNS, such as Kakaotalk The platform with the greatest growth in 2012 was the mobile platform. It was shown to have grown by at least 80% relative to the previous year, and is forecasted to record at least 50% growth in 2013 as well. The most influential factor in the growth of the mobile game market was Kakaotalk, which had been considered simply a messaging application run on smartphones. Kakaotalk gaming began being used in earnest from July 2012 onwards, but its impact on the mobile gaming industry was huge. Kakaotalk quickly reorganized the mobile game market and established itself as a sure retail platform for mobile games, making it almost impossible to remember how people accessed and enjoyed mobile games previously. The games that were most successful and sensational among those sold through Kakaotalk were casual games that could be enjoyed with simple controls. As smartphones were used for purposes other than voice calls mostly over short periods of time, such as while on the move, these simple casual games matched such smartphone usage patterns. Another characteristic was that in these games, the users would compete with others (primarily with acquaintances) based on points. With the exception of arcade games, games had previously been for the most part played alone or against people whom one did not know. With users gaming with the personal connections they had made through Kakaotalk, however, people began inspecting and managing their personal connections through these simple games. This is why rather than games that were highly competitive and whose difference in rewards for wins and losses were large, games that were less competitive and that allowed for easy exchange of items or gifts among acquaintances gained more popularity. Based on such, the user profile of the South Korean mobile game market was diversified. The gender and age groups spanned by this platform reached beyond those of other game platforms. Currently, mobile games based on SNS, such as Kakaotalk, have established themselves as the most typical mobile game type in South Korea. It is forecasted that SNS will also be the core factor of future mobile game market growth.
  • 16. 14 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry 2) Changes and diversification of mobile game platforms Before and during the initial stages of widespread smartphone use, mobile games were mostly based on WIPI (Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability). With the widespread use of smartphones, however, the types of mobile game service changed and became diversified. Considering the fact that most smartphone-based games are in the form of applications, Apple App Store and Google Play Store can be mobile game platforms. Kakaotalk, which opened a new chapter for South Korean mobiles games, also began as one of many simple applications. For such application-type games, Apple App Store and Google Play Store can be said to still be important retail channels. As aforementioned, since the opening of Kakaotalk gaming, Kakotalk has become in itself a game retail channel. Most of the highest grossing games in Apple App Store and Google Play Store are based on the Kakao game platform. People currently using Kakaotalk gaming are not too enthusiastic about encountering and playing game contents through other retail channels, and the influence of Kakaotalk gaming as a mobile game retail channel can be said to be great. Smartphone manufacturers are also moving to establish themselves as new mobile game retail platforms. All eyes are on their future moves as they are able to establish market strategies based on the advantage that they are the device manufacturers. That is, they can, in the process of manufacturing smartphones, establish a mobile game retail channel within the smartphone in the form of preloaded applications. For Samsung, for example, ChatOn, a common application of all smart devices manufactured by Samsung, can be used as a mobile game retail platform. Large-game development and retail companies are also entering the market with proprietary mobile game retail platforms. This is for the goal of securing a stable base of at least a certain number of users, and for the use of these platforms as promotion channels. Also, these are evaluated to have high utilization value as game development or update paths, with the quick collection of feedback from the users regarding a particular game. Accordingly, it is predicted that the creation and use of proprietary game retail platforms by game development and retail companies will increase. As demonstrated, many actors are entering the related markets in view of the success of mobile games and the expansion of the industry. The competition among
  • 17. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 15 various players for mobile game retail platforms is becoming fierce, and the resulting platform dynamics was a characteristic aspect of the 2012 mobile game market. 3) Rapid growth of mobile games and appearance of large corporations in related industries With the great mobile game sensation and the realization of the potential of mobile games, many economic actors newly entered the mobile game market. Among these were individual developers and small to medium-sized development companies formed by a small number of people, and also companies that had grown into large corporations based on previous successes in online game development and operation. The means by which these large corporations participated in the mobile game market were diverse. In some cases, corporations completely switched their main area of focus to mobile games, with some newly formed teams put in charge of mobile game development and operation through the reorganization of business divisions, and others maintaining their online game development divisions while founding subsidiaries focusing completely on mobile game development. With multiple large corporate actors joining the mobile game market, it is forecasted that the competition will become fierce and that the market will start to transition into one where the economies of scale are effective. In reality, there is a trend towards the drafting and execution of marketing strategies on a scale far larger than before to ensure survival amidst the competition in the mobile game market, which continues to grow ever more fierce, and from the standpoint of small and medium-sized companies, it is becoming more and more difficult to shoulder such large marketing investments. With the continuation of this trend, it seems likely that the cases wherein small and medium-sized businesses will be acquired by and merged with large corporations will increase. It is then possible, as observed in many other markets, that natural oligopolies or monopolies will appear in the mobile game market and the game market in general.
  • 18. 16 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry 4) Decrease in the number of middle-standing companies in the general game industry As for online games, the influence of the highest grossing companies was traditionally great. These top companies mostly cemented their positions by sustaining their operation of popular online games while accumulating effective management know-how through updates, etc. In addition, from 2012 to the first half of 2013, online-game-based large corporations aggressively entered the mobile game market, securing new profit sources. Accordingly, the influence of the existing large corporations in the South Korean game industry generally became even stronger. As an example, the total 2012 revenues of the 47 companies that submitted their 2012 business reports to the Electronic Disclosure System of the Financial Supervisory Commission had increased 10.58% relative to the previous year. It was shown, however, that the revenues had actually decreased in 27 companies, more than half of the 47 companies. Also, with the total revenues of the eight major companies with at least 100 billion won in revenues having increased 13.38% relative to the previous year, the concentration of the market became stronger. The performance of companies whose traditional business area of focus had been mobile games, and of companies that had quickly switched to mobile games as their core business area, was not bad either. With the discovery, however, that the demand in the mobile game market for simple casual games like <Anypang> or <Dragon Flight> was high, the individual or small-group entrepreneurship increased. Accordingly, the situation in the mobile game market was characterized by the presence and great influence of the existing large corporations, with a sharp increase in the number of small companies. As such, the middle-standing companies in the mobile and online game markets have seen their positions generally decline. While it is a positive fact that the size of the industry is growing, the increasing seriousness of this winner-takes-all phenomenon is highly likely to be a minus factor to the game industry in the long term. Therefore, for the time being, there is an increasing need to furnish the conditions for corporations that may be small for now to continue growth into the future and to act as the backbone of the industry.
  • 19. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 17 5) Decreasing attempts to develop new products From 2012 to the first half of 2013, several blockbuster games were launched in the PC and online game markets, giving rise to sensations. During this period, however, it also became clear that the success formula of online games required a review. Whereas in the past, a certain amount of profits could be stably created through only management and operation once a successful online game was developed, this trend is now weakening. The lifetime of online games is steadily decreasing. That is, the user loyalty to online games is no longer as steadfast as before, and the mobility is rising. In this period, the general focus of attention was of course the mobile game market. Here, the earliest games that became successful in the mobile game market were casual games that were not too difficult and that could be started easily. The profits of these games were not created over long times and through user loyalty; rather, they would cause a sensation over a short period of time and maximize the collection of profits based on their short-lived popularity. This can be said to be similar to the situation with movies, where the securing of the largest number of screens possible and attracting public attention within the first one to two weeks after the premiere decides the overall success of the movie. As for the previous online games, it was possible to invest much time in game development, mobilizing large volumes of manpower and development funds. The basis for this was the expectation of high loyalty from the users. With the user loyalty weakening, however, the situation has changed, making it difficult to set about developing online games. Accordingly, there has been less news of the beginning of development for new games or the beginning of beta service. It can be said that there was a period of adjustment, so to speak, wherein the previously launched blockbuster games were managed while the situation of the mobile game market was being monitored. As for mobile games, the games themselves could not be too difficult, and the game control interface was limited compared to online games, which use computers. Therefore, instead of developing new game formats, increased numbers of simple on- and offline games were transplanted for operation on mobile devices. Accordingly, the attempts to develop new game formats reflecting the characteristics of mobile devices further decreased.
  • 20. 18 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry 6) Changes to the Game Rating Board The amendments to the 「Game Industry Promotion Act」 announced on May 22, 2013 include the abolishment of the Game Rating Board, the introduction of 18+ game ratings, the establishment of the Game Management Board in charge of follow-up management, etc. of games, and expanding the private sector consignment scope of the game rating function to include all-ages arcade games. According to the revised act, the dramatic expansion of the scope of the game rating function consigned to the private sector led to the abolishment of the Game Rating Board established in 2006 due to the loss of its intended functions. To take its place, and according to the need for the management and supervision of private sector rating organizations and a body for the follow-up management of games, it was decided to newly establish the Game Management Board. Actually, the amendments to the 「Game Industry Promotion Act」, which provides for the adoption of autonomous private sector censorship and the transition to the Game Rating Board, had been pursued from 2012. The National Assembly, however, raised the issue of a transition to an actual autonomous censorship system, and after much debate, the launch of the autonomous censorship body that the game industry had sought was not realized. Accordingly, the revision of the act was delayed, with the revised act finally being passed in May 2013. Thereafter, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism formed a task force for the establishment of a Game Management Board, and preparations are under way. The team is composed of committee members appointed or commissioned by the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and performs the work of preparing the articles of association for the board, operation regulations, and formation of the body. The team is set to be dissolved after completing the registration of the establishment of the Game Management Board and handing over their tasks, after which the Game Management Board will begin its normal activities. 7) Web-board-game-related regulations Regulations on Web board games have continually been a debated issue. The parts about which the most issues are raised are related to speculation, of which the core issue is currency exchange. As the exchange of gift certificates won in the games was the core issue with the speculative operation of arcade games, currency
  • 21. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 19 exchange in Web board games was also not an issue that could be taken lightly by the society. What was adopted to address this situation was autonomous regulation by the industry. The establishment of a 300,000 won limit per person had also been autonomously decided and proposed by the industry. In the latter half of 2011, however, cases were discovered wherein the Web board game industry’s proposed autonomous regulation of a 300,000 won spending limit was not properly kept. This was taken to signify that the autonomous regulation of the speculative operation of Web board games was not working properly, which eventually became a large policy issue. Thereafter, government offices began actively intervening to prevent the speculative operation of games. The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism announced guidelines banning the speculative operation of go-stop- and poker-type Web board games on October 25, 2010. The key details include limiting the purchase of game money for the go-stopand poker-type Web board games and limiting the maximum bet for one round to game money corresponding to 10,000 won in cash. Also, when a user loses game money corresponding to 100,000 won in cash within one day, access to the game is blocked for two days. The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism was expecting to put the revised plan into effect beginning January 2013, after giving administrative advance notice, but with delays due to the opposition by the industry and the review by the Regulatory Reform Commission, such target was not met. In the meantime, the Web board game industry announced a plan for autonomous regulation, but on August 30, 2013, the government’s Web board game regulation bill passed the Regulatory Reform Committee review with partial changes. 8) Enforcement of the PC room no-smoking law The 「National Health Promotion Act」 revised in 2011 came into effect on June 8, 2013. This revision includes the designation of all PC rooms as non-smoking zones. Upon the request of the PC room industry, however, a six-month grace period was set. Opinions regarding the banning of smoking in PC rooms diverge. Whereas for smokers, PC rooms may be a rare place where one can smoke comfortably, smelling cigarette smoke in a PC room may be an unpleasant experience for non-smokers. As business owners tend to clients who are both smokers and
  • 22. 20 2. The 10 Issues in the Korean Game Industry non-smokers, they have to operate their PC rooms in a way that will satisfy both sides, with different means of providing an environment where their smoker customers can smoke. There are some PC rooms that designated separate smoking and non-smoking zones, separating them with walls to block the cigarette smoke and smell from the non-smokers, but in other PC rooms, the base minimum, such as putting up simple signs or partitions, was done. Of course, the non-smokers using the latter PC rooms would express dissatisfaction regarding the measures taken by the business owners. The response of the business owners to the anticipated enforcement of the 「Game Industry Promotion Act」 varies as well. Some owners have created separate smoking booths and have provided a notice regarding the non-smoking law in their PC rooms, and others prefer to wait and observe the situation. As the matter has been the subject of a long tug-of-war between the government and the industry, it is forecasted that the effectiveness of the policy, and whether the policy will actually be observed, will be debated for the time being and even after the enforcement of the non-smoking law. 9) Changes to the domestic game-related associations While the government and the industry were engaging in a tug-of-war regarding some game regulations, some current National Assembly members were elected the new chairmen of game-related associations. The speculations as to whether the government and the game industry could forge a new type of relationship grew. First, assembly member Byeong Heon Jeon of the Democratic United Party was th inaugurated as the 5 chairman of Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA). It was decided on January 24, 2013 that he would be the next chairman, and he took office on January 29. The slogan announced by assembly member Byeong Heong Jeon at his inauguration as chairman was “Next e-Sports,” meaning the expansion of e-sports, departing from the practice of e-sports associations centering on <Starcraft 2> professional game teams. This also communicates the urge to increase the scope of e-sports to include amateurs and to increase the number of games. Since then, Korea e-Sports Association has been making efforts to win e-sports fans by hosting a national family e-sports competition and establishing the National College e-Sports League (NCEL). Korea Association of the Game Industry appointed assembly member Gyeong Pil
  • 23. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 21 Nam of the Saenuri Party as its new chairman. At his inauguration on February 22, 2013, he proposed three objectives: autonomous regulation, social responsibility, and sustained game industry growth. These reflect the will for autonomously addressing the game-related problems or issues to show the maturity of the industry, and the transformation of the negative perceptions of games through social responsibility. The goal of working towards the sustained growth of the game industry, judged to be in stagnation, was also established. Korea Association of the Game Industry is demonstrating efforts to reinvent itself, renaming itself Korea Internet & Digital Entertainment Association in July 2013. 10) A new e-sports generation The South Korean e-sports have gone through various changes for more than 10 years. A great change took place between 2012 and the first half of 2013, and especially worth noting is the fact that the games leading e-sports changed. <Starcraft> used to be the undisputed leading game, with unrivaled popularity and fandom. This popularity cooled, however, with the transition from <Starcraft> to <Starcraft 2>, and its place was taken by <League of Legends>. Another observable point was that the hosting organization of e-sports competitions changed. Whereas originally, a separate association or group would host e-sports competitions, there came about cases wherein the company that developed the e-sports game directly hosted the competition. That is, the role of competition-hosting organizations was usurped by the game development companies. This is interpreted to be a signal that the game developer companies have begun to consider e-sports an important element of marketing for their games. The media providing e-sports broadcasts, originally only cable, now include the Internet and smart devices, and the various e-sports community activities are increasing, centering on SNS. Also, with the increasing numbers of paying spectators for e-sports events, and other never-before-seen phenomena now being seen, expectations are rising regarding the direction of change in e-sports.
  • 24. 22 3. User Trends 3. User Trends 3.1 Research summary From March 14 to 21, 2013, Korea Creative Contents Agency conducted a survey of game users aged 9 to 49 who purchased or used game-related products in the six months prior to the survey date among the general public. The survey was conducted in the five major South Korean cities of Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju, and Busan. The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,000 participants chosen via proportionated quota sampling with consideration of population sizes by gender, region, and age. The survey was conducted online and included questions on the game-related standard of living, manner of game usage and consumption, and perception of games of the respondents. 3.2 Major analysis results 3.2.1 Reasons for gaming As for the responses to the question of why they played games, the most common response was “for fun” (34.7%), followed by “stress release” (31.3%) and “using spare time” (15.9%). Most of the male respondents played games for “stress release” (35.1%) while most of the female respondents played games “for fun” (38.2%). Overall, most of the respondents aged up to 24 answered “for fun” while
  • 25. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games 23 most of the respondents who were at least 25 years old answered “stress release.” |Figure 5| Reasons for Gaming Because it's fun To ease stress (Unit: %, n=1,000) To spend leisure time 0.3 0.9 5.0 11.9 0.4 1.2 3.7 15.3 0.2 0.6 6.3 8.4 16.5 5.5 11.7 15.9 12.9 19.0 3.8 11.4 7.6 1.3 20.0 31.3 35.1 31.4 All Males 1.3 3.8 5.1 13.9 13.1 18.9 19.7 21.2 32.8 33.3 32.1 40.9 44.3 27.8 26.5 28.5 25.9 24.1 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 40~44 years old 45~49 years old 20.0 38.2 9~14 years old 0.5 0.5 7.3 7.8 Others 0.8 1.5 6.1 12.1 1.7 5.0 10.9 Community in cyber space 5.1 17.1 21.5 55.2 38.2 Females Habitually 1.8 3.6 25.5 27.3 67.1 34.7 To get along with friends 15~19 years old 20~24 years old 3.2.2 Average daily gaming time For the average daily gaming time on weekdays and weekends, the respondents were found to spend 129.9 minutes per day on gaming during weekdays, and 166.5 minutes per day on weekends. For weekday gaming, the male respondents spent 141.4 minutes per day on gaming, about 23 minutes longer than the female respondents’ 117.8 minutes. This trend is the same on weekends. On weekends, the male respondents spend 188.0 minutes on games while the female respondents spend 143.6 minutes, with the former spending about 44 minutes more on gaming than the latter. As for the weekend gaming time, the respondents aged 15-19 showed the longest time (204.3 minutes), and those aged 9-14 showed the shortest gaming time (123.5 minutes). In contrast, those aged 35-39 showed the longest gaming time on weekdays (140.5 minutes), and those aged 9-14 showed the shortest gaming time (97.3 minutes).
  • 26. 24 3. User Trends |Figure 6| Average Daily Gaming Time (Unit: Minutes, n=1,000) Weekdays 204.3 188.0 175.0 170.2 166.5 129.9 Weekend 143.6 141.4 117.8 123.5 137.1 137.3 136.4 185.2 162.9 131.3 140.5 155.8 141.0 126.0 121.5 97.3 All Males Females 9~14 years old 15~19 years old 20~24 years old 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 40~44 years old 45~49 years old 3.2.3 Most commonly used game platform As for the most commonly used game platforms, “online games” (38.7%) had the highest frequency of first-choice responses, followed by “mobile games” (33.1%) and “PC package games” (14.5%). The male respondents were shown to use online games the most (51.0%), and the female respondents, mobile games (45.9%). |Figure 7| Most Commonly Used Game Platform by Gender Online Games 3.5 4.8 5.4 14.5 33.1 38.7 All Moblie Games PC Games 2.0 5.3 2.2 18.8 Portable Games (Unit: %, n=1,000) Video Games Arcade Games 5.1 4.3 8.8 10.0 20.8 45.9 51.0 25.9 Males Females In the age group of 24 and below, the use of online games was most active, and in the age group of 35 and above, the ratio of PC package game use was relatively high compared to the other age groups.
  • 27. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games |Figure 8| Most Commonly Used Game Platform by Age Online Games 9~14 years old 15~19 years old 20~24 years old 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 40~44 years old 45~49 years old Moblie Games PC Games (Unit: %, n=1,000) Portable Games 57.0 Video Games Arcade Games 32.9 51.0 2.52.52.52.5 31.0 56.4 8.3 29.1 34.4 33.9 31.1 31.6 3.3 3.8 3.6 4.4 3.6 18.1 31.6 7.2 7.6 9.8 21.9 34.2 36.7 7.2 13.6 34.3 3.42.1 4.1 9.1 1.81.81.8 13.9 34.1 32.1 25 5.2 5.7 22.8 5.2 6.3 2.5 3.2.4 Most common gaming time In the investigation of the time when games were mostly used, the proportion of “6-10PM” was found to be the highest (42.2%). This was followed by “10PM-2AM” (30.2%) and “12-6PM” (25.4%). As for the gaming time by age group, the response “12-6PM” was most common for the 9-14 age group (51.9%) while the response “6-10PM” was most common for the 20-24 age group (56.4%). Meanwhile, the response “10PM-2AM” was relatively common in the 25-39 age group. |Figure 9| Most Common Gaming Time by Gender 6 a.m. ~ 12 p.m. (Unit: %, n=1,000) 12 ~ 6 p.m. 6 ~ 10 p.m. 10 p.m. ~ 2 a.m. 0.4 0.4 0.4 30.2 32.0 28.4 42.2 44.1 25.4 21.6 40.2 29.4 1.8 2.0 1.6 All Males Females 2 ~ 6 a.m.
  • 28. 26 3. User Trends |Figure 10| Most Common Gaming Time by Age 6 a.m. ~ 12 p.m. 9~14 years old 15~19 years old 20~24 years old 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 40~44 years old 45~49 years old (Unit: %, n=1,000) 12 ~ 6 p.m. 6 ~ 10 p.m. 51.9 0.7 1.8 1.1 2.3 2.2 2.1 10 p.m. ~ 2 a.m. 40.5 30.3 20.0 20.0 56.4 20.0 43.9 20.5 35.6 40.9 29.0 39.4 36.8 26.6 1.8 1.7 36.7 41.7 17.5 5.1 7.6 49.0 16.7 2 ~ 6 a.m. 32.1 34.2 34.2 3.2.5 Preferred game platform and genre As for the reason for the preference of a specific game platform, the most common response was “most readily accessible” (38.1%), followed by “convenience of use regardless of location” (24.7%) and “most used by friends” (18.3%). More men (24.1%) than women (12.2%) answered “used by friends.” That is, men were found to have a greater tendency to establish relationships with friends through the medium of games. The 20-24 age group had the most “most readily accessible” responses (56.4%) while “convenience of use regardless of location” was most common in the 45-49 age group (31.6%), and the response “most used by friends” was most common in the 9-14 age group (30.4%). |Figure 11| Reason for Choice of Preferred Game Platform by Gender It is the easiest to use It can be played for a long time Others All Males Females It can be used easily regardless of place It is very realistic 24.7 38.1 32.2 It is used the most by friends It is cheap 18.3 20.6 44.3 (Unit: %, n=1,000) 24.1 29.0 9.3 11.8 12.2 4.6 2.42.6 6.7 2.02.7 6.7 2.42.92.4
  • 29. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games |Figure 12| Reason for Choice of Preferred Game Platform by Age (Unit: %, n=1,000) It can be used easily regardless of place It is very realistic It is the easiest to use It can be played for a long time Others It is used the most by friends It is cheap 1.5 2.3 3.8 10.6 20.0 15.9 28.8 24.8 36.7 37.1 36.5 41.5 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 40~44 years old 1.8 1.8 3.6 7.6 3.4 4.1 27.3 13.1 30.4 2.2 1.1 3.9 10.0 26.1 2.5 3.8 5.1 1.6 3.1 5.2 8.8 9.5 16.8 1.3 1.3 7.6 7.6 10.4 1.5 2.2 8.8 9.1 22.1 11.4 27 15.2 29.5 31.6 22.1 56.4 46.8 27.6 9~14 years old 15~19 years old 20~24 years old |Figure 13| Preferred Game Genre Casual Game 8.5 11.6 8.4 FPS/TPS 4.1 8.0 Sports Game 3.9 Web Board Game 3.9 1.4 Adventure 0.8 4.7 2.9 3.1 2.7 2.8 2.0 3.7 2.2 3.7 1.5 2.4 0.6 3.1 2.4 3.9 12.0 12.0 7.8 3.1 12.5 7.9 4.4 1.2 Racing Others 13.3 4.9 5.5 16.3 23.5 9.2 Business/Construction/ Training Simulation Action 14.3 5.5 RTS Music Males 23.7 Role Playing Battle Action Game 45~49 years old (Unit: %, n=1,000) All Educational Game 35.4 Females 30.8
  • 30. 28 3. User Trends The most preferred game genre was “role playing” (23.7%), followed by “casual games” (14.3%), “RTS” (9.2%), and “management/construction/cultivation simulation” (8.5%). The male respondents preferred “role playing” (30.8%), “RTS” (13.3%), “FPS/TPS” (12.5%), and “sports” (12.0%) whereas the female respondents preferred “casual games” (23.5%), “role playing” (16.3%), and “Web/board games” (12.0%), showing that the preferred game genres differed by gender. 3.2.6 Reasons for choosing games As for the important factors considered when selecting games, 46.2% of all the respondents answered “genre,” followed by “content/material/background” (19.1%) and “recommendation of game users” (18.3%). More men than women answered “genre” (51.0% vs. 41.2%), and the answer “content/material/background” was relatively more common among the female respondents than among the male respondents (21.8% vs. 16.5%). |Figure 14| Reasons for Choosing Games by Gender Genre Production company 1.2 3.1 3.3 3.7 5.1 Content/Subject matter/Background Graphic/Sound 18.3 1.0 2.2 3.1 4.1 4.7 17.5 19.1 16.5 46.2 51.0 All Males (Unit: %, n=1,000) Recommendation by gamers Significance/Educational value Character Others 1.4 4.1 3.5 3.3 5.5 19.2 21.8 41.2 Females While the response “genre” was most common across all age groups, the response “content/material/background” was relatively common only in the 40-49 age group.
  • 31. 2013 White Paper on Korean Games |Figure 15| Reasons for Choosing Games by Age Genre Production company (Unit: %, n=1,000) Content/Subject matter/Background Graphic/Sound Recommendation by gamers Significance/Educational value 2.1 2.8 4.8 4.8 15.2 3.6 5.5 1.8 1.8 20.0 0.6 2.2 1.1 6.7 5.6 5.3 3.8 1.5 3.8 1.5 2.2 5.8 1.5 3.6 18.9 21.2 21.2 15.2 18.6 16.4 15.6 18.9 15.3 49.4 51.7 49.4 45.5 48.9 9~14 years old, 15~19 years old 25~29 years old 30~34 years old 35~39 years old 3.8 1.3 1.3 8.9 20.3 50.9 20~24 years old 29 Character Others 2.1 3.6 3.6 4.7 6.2 8.9 3.8 3.8 5.1 15.0 17.7 26.4 22.8 38.3 38.0 40~44 years old 45~49 years old 3.2.7 Platform to lead the future domestic game market As for the most likely platform to lead the future domestic game market, the first place went to mobile games (57.5%), followed by online games (33.9%) and PC package games (3.7%). More women than men (66.7% vs. 48.6%) answered “mobile games,” and more men than women (42.7% vs. 24.7%) answered “online games.” |Figure 16| Platform to Lead the Future Domestic Game Market Moblie Games 1.1 1.5 2.3 3.7 33.9 57.5 All Online Games PC Games Portable Games 0.8 2.4 1.4 4.1 42.7 48.6 Males (Unit: %, n=1,000) Video Games Arcade Games 1.4 0.6 3.3 3.3 24.7 66.7 Females 3.2 8 Genre to lead the future domestic game market “Role playing” was the most common first choice (33.0%) for the genre that will lead the future domestic game market, also ranking first in the overall ranking (44.0%) reflecting multiple answers. For the first-choice responses, “role playing”
  • 32. 30 3. User Trends was followed by “casual games” (10.6%) and “FPS/TPS” (8.0%). Based on overall ranking, however, “FPS/TPS” (21.5%) and “casual games” (18.5%) were ranked second and third, respectively, differing from the first-choice response ranking. For the first-choice responses, most of both the male and female respondents answered “role playing,” but more women than men (15.5% vs. 5.9%) answered “casual games.” The response “role playing” was relatively more common in the 20s age group than in the other age groups. The proportion of “FPS/TPS” responses in the 15-19 age group (18.6%) was very high compared to that in the other age groups. |Figure 17| Genre to Lead the Future Domestic Game Market (Unit: %, n=1,000) 1 rank 44.0 Total(1rank + 2rank) 33.0 4.7 8.8 3.5 7.2 8.7 8.2 5.5 6.8 6.4 4.5 4.7 3.5 0.1 3.4 3.2 3.2 3.1 2.7 1.9 1.7 1.4 1.1 0.1 Othe rs 5.4 Mus ic Web Boar d Ga me Gam e for prize 5.6 11.3 10.2 Adve ntur e Expe rienc ing G ame Shoo ting Child ren's Gam e 7.4 Actio n 8.0 Racin g Battl e Ac tion Gam e 14.8 14.8 FPS/ TPS Busin e /Trainss/Con ing S structio imula n tion Role Play ing Casu al Ga me 10.6 21.5 RTS Spor ts Ga me Educ ation al Ga me 18.5
  • 33. Information on Contents Industry Korea Creative Content Agency, 250-15 Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea (Postal code: 121-904) PHONE: 82-1566-1114 FAX: 82-2-3153-1115 URL: www.kocca.kr Overseas Branch KOCCA USA (LA) 5509 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 PHONE: 1-323-935-5001 KOCCA China (Beijing) Rm 709, Office Tower 1, Henderson Center, 18 Jian Guo Men Nei Avenue, Beijing, China PHONE: 86-10-6518-7345 KOCCA Japan (Tokyo) Korea Center B/D 7F, 4-4-10, Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0826, Japan PHONE: 81-3-5363-4510 KOCCA Europe (London) 2F 2 Conduit St. London W1S 2XB, UK PHONE: 44-20-7016-3330