Minister Hwang Hee: "Probability-based Items, User Distrust Must Be Resolved Through Legal Mandated Information Disclosure"

Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] Hwang Hee, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, recently stated regarding the gaming industry's hot topic of 'probability-based items' that "we should proceed by legally mandating information disclosure to resolve users' distrust and enhance the competitiveness of games themselves."

On the 22nd, Minister Hwang held his first meeting with the gaming industry since his appointment at the Korea Game Industry Association's main conference room in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, saying, "Users' trust in the self-regulation of (probability-based items) is declining." He also emphasized regarding the ongoing discussions on the revision of the Game Industry Promotion Act in the National Assembly, "The government will actively cooperate to prepare a high-quality bill by collecting various opinions raised by the gaming industry and users."

Recently, the gaming industry has been experiencing rapid growth and has risen as a core sector of our economy. Especially last year, despite the overall economic difficulties caused by COVID-19, the gaming industry grew based on its characteristics of non-face-to-face, online provision, and distribution.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is also establishing and promoting projects to support the production of games based on new technologies and new market creation, as well as fostering game companies to discover competitive new game enterprises to support the sustainable growth of the domestic gaming industry. Additionally, a full revision bill of the 'Game Industry Promotion Act,' including various promotion policies for the gaming industry and culture, has been proposed and is under discussion in the National Assembly.

Minister Hwang said, "As Korea's economy transitions to non-face-to-face and digital, the gaming industry is emerging as a new growth engine," adding, "Recently, games are not only growing economically but also becoming one of the universal leisure cultures for the public."

He continued, "To sustain this phenomenon, it is necessary to build a healthy gaming culture and enhance positive perceptions of games," emphasizing, "One possible approach is to consider game theme parks where families can enjoy together."

Meanwhile, this meeting was organized to express the government's interest in the development of the gaming industry and to gather on-site opinions on ways to expand the gaming market, including industry requests.

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