[The Crisis of K-Games] Only 33 'Pan-Ho' Licenses Issued in 5 Years... Zero Since 2017

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Over the past five years, South Korean games have received only 33 licenses (game service permits in China) issued by the Chinese government.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Lee Sang-heon, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, South Korean games received 27 licenses in 2016 and 6 in 2017.

Since March 2017, there have been zero licenses issued. Although the Chinese government recently issued licenses for some foreign games, South Korea was not included this time either. In contrast, even American games, which are involved in trade disputes with China along with Japan, received licenses.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, a total of 28 foreign games were issued licenses as of August this year. Among them, Japanese developers accounted for the largest number with 12, followed by 5 American games, 9 European, and 2 Southeast Asian games. Even during 2018-2019, when no licenses were issued to South Korea, Japanese and American games received licenses and distributed games within China. Japan received 15 licenses in 2018 and 63 in 2019, while the U.S. received 14 licenses in 2018 and 17 in 2019.

With the suspension of license issuance, domestic game companies are missing out on the Chinese game market worth 39 trillion won. According to the Game Production Committee (GPC) of the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, the Chinese game market has been growing annually from 214.4 billion yuan (approximately 36.62 trillion won) in 2018 to 230.8 billion yuan (approximately 39.42 trillion won) in 2019. Professor Wi Jeong-hyun of the Department of Business Administration at Chung-Ang University and president of the Korea Game Society analyzed that sales of 10 to 17.5 trillion won have disappeared over the past four years during which license issuance for domestic games was suspended.

In this regard, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "We are requesting the Chinese government to resume issuing licenses for domestic games through various channels," adding, "While seeking new export markets to revitalize the domestic game industry, we are making multifaceted efforts such as providing support behind the scenes to maintain private exchanges like the Korea-China Game Association."

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