"This Year, Domestic Game Market Size Expected to Surpass 17 Trillion Won"

Publication of the '2020 Korea Game White Paper'

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] It is forecasted that the domestic game market size will surpass 17 trillion won this year.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency published the '2020 Korea Game White Paper' on the 21st, summarizing the trends of the domestic and international game industry in 2019. According to the Game White Paper, the domestic game market size in 2020 is estimated to reach 17.0093 trillion won.

Last year, the domestic game industry revenue was recorded at 15.575 trillion won, a 9% increase compared to the previous year. Exports amounted to 6.65778 billion dollars (approximately 7.7606 trillion won), a 3.8% increase from the previous year.

In 2019, mobile game revenue was 7.7399 trillion won, accounting for 49.7% of the total game industry revenue. Following that, PC game revenue was 4.8058 trillion won (30.9%), console game revenue was 694.6 billion won (4.5%), and arcade game revenue was 223.6 billion won (1.4%).

Except for PC games, revenues from all other game platforms increased compared to the previous year. Mobile game, arcade game, and console game revenues increased by 16.3%, 20.6%, and 31.4% respectively. However, PC game revenue decreased by 4.3% compared to the previous year.

Last year, the global game market size increased by 5% from the previous year to 186.491 billion dollars. Korea's market share in the global market was 6.2%, ranking 5th among the top 10 countries after the United States, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

By platform, PC games held a 12.5% market share, ranking 3rd after China and the United States, while mobile games held a 9.1% market share, ranking 4th after China, the United States, and Japan.

In 2019, Korea's game industry export volume reached 6.65778 billion dollars, a 3.8% increase from the previous year. The export share was distributed as follows: China (40.6%), Southeast Asia (11.2%), Japan (10.3%), Taiwan (9.8%), North America (9.1%), Europe (6.0%), and Hong Kong (4.7%). Import volume was recorded at 298.13 million dollars, a 2.5% decrease from the previous year.

The Korean game industry recorded a trade surplus of approximately 6.4 billion dollars in 2019, accounting for about 16% of Korea's total trade surplus that year. The Korea Creative Content Agency stated, "Although smaller in scale compared to manufacturing or IT industries, the game industry is playing a significant role as an export driver."

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