Minister Park Yang-woo Meets Game Industry Leaders: "Rapid Improvement of Long-Standing Regulations"

"Tax Benefits Previously Given to Manufacturing Should Also Be Granted to the Game Industry"

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo held a meeting with game industry and association officials at the Korea Game Industry Association conference room in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 14th and took a commemorative photo. / Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, met with representatives of the game industry and expressed his determination to improve the long-standing regulations related to the game industry as quickly as possible to foster the domestic game industry.

On the 14th, Minister Park held a meeting at the Korea Game Industry Association with representatives from the game industry including Nexon, Netmarble, and NCSoft, as well as officials from the Korea Game Industry Association, Korea Mobile Game Association, Korea Game Developers Association, and Korea Game Society. Industry attendees included Lee Jung-heon, CEO of Nexon Korea; Lee Seung-won, CEO of Netmarble; Jung Jin-soo, Vice President of NCSoft; Jung Woo-jin, CEO of NHN; Yang Dong-gi, CEO of Smilegate; Moon Ji-soo, CEO of Neowiz; Jung Kyung-in, CEO of Pearl Abyss; and Lee Yong-guk, Vice President of Com2uS. Also present were Kang Shin-chul, Chairman of the Korea Game Industry Association; Wi Jeong-hyun, Chairman of the Korea Game Society; and Jung Seok-hee, Chairman of the Korea Game Developers Association.

At the meeting, Minister Park stated, "Although the global economy is struggling due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the game industry has been recognized as an industry resilient to economic downturns and is attracting attention as a new growth engine in the era of contactless and online economy, which is encouraging." He added, "The government plans to continue implementing policies that reflect field opinions, such as promptly revising related laws and effectively improving regulations according to the policy directions presented in the comprehensive plan for game industry promotion."

He also emphasized, "We will quickly address the long-standing regulatory improvements for the domestic game industry," and said, "Just as tax benefits were provided to the manufacturing industry in the past, I believe similar tax benefits should be offered to the game industry, which has recently become a significant part of domestic exports." Furthermore, he requested active participation from domestic game companies so that the upcoming 'Korea-China-Japan eSports Tournament' in November and its accompanying cultural festival can be held as events where all generations can communicate through games.

Industry representatives reportedly proposed various measures for the sustainable development of the game industry to Minister Park and requested the government's active support to ensure that the revision of the Game Industry Act reflecting field opinions and the tasks of the comprehensive plan for game industry promotion proceed smoothly.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized this meeting to hear field opinions to effectively implement follow-up measures of the comprehensive plan for game industry promotion and future amendments to the Game Industry Act. Earlier, on the 7th, the ministry announced the comprehensive plan to support the innovative growth of the game industry. The plan consists of four core strategies and 16 key tasks: ▲supporting innovative growth through active regulatory and institutional improvements ▲strengthening step-by-step support from startup to overseas market entry ▲spreading the positive value of games and fostering the eSports industry ▲strengthening the game industry foundation. The ministry set goals to achieve sales of 19.9 trillion KRW, exports of 11.5 trillion KRW, and create 102,000 related jobs by 2024 through game industry promotion.

Meanwhile, despite the COVID-19 outbreak crisis earlier this year, the game industry has shown resilience and is spotlighted as a future growth engine. As of March, mobile game downloads increased by 11% compared to the same period last year, and the first-quarter sales and operating profit of major domestic game companies increased by 27.9% and 98.9%, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.