[2022 National Audit] Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Supported 21.4 Billion KRW for Game Production Projects Last Year... Only Half Were Released

Last Year 21.4 Billion Support, 31 Out of 68 Still Unreleased

Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has invested a total of 84.4 billion KRW in the industry over the past five years through the 'Game Production Support' project, but it has been revealed that 67 games have not been actually released.

In particular, although 21.4 billion KRW was supported last year, it was confirmed that 31 out of 68 games are still unreleased nearly a year after the contract period ended.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to Ryu Hojeong, a member of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly from the Justice Party, four game companies were selected again for the project despite having unreleased games, and among them, two companies received government support funds more than four times.

On the other hand, 84.8% of game companies received production support funds only once. Additionally, four game companies received 1.3 billion KRW to produce offline games exclusively for overseas markets such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Guangzhou, creating games that are not serviced in Korea using tax money.

Furthermore, three companies have closed down, and four games have ended their service, with a total of 2.2 billion KRW spent on these. Considering that post-management is conducted only for two years after the contract period, it is estimated that there are more closed companies and games that have ended service.

Last year, 900 million KRW was supported in the blockchain sector. Among the selected companies was one that rewards cryptocurrency. This means that public funds were used to support the production of games that cannot be distributed domestically, while the Game Rating and Administration Committee is refusing to classify blockchain games citing promotion of gambling.

The unclear guidelines of the Korea Creative Content Agency have been pointed out as the cause of such poor performance. The guidelines force game production to be completed within 8 to 9 months, revealing the limitations of this project in securing future game competitiveness. Despite the varying production periods required for each game characteristic, the uniform contract period leads to an increase in the ratio of projects ending with poor content or even unreleased games.

Ryu Hojeong of the Justice Party said, “We should not waste taxes on one-off games or content that cannot be distributed domestically. To enhance the competitiveness of the game industry, it is necessary to consider supporting one project over multiple years reflecting the realities of game production according to game characteristics.” She added, “For sound project execution, continuous and meticulous post-management of game companies is needed, such as checking whether released games are still being serviced and linking production with marketing projects.”

Meanwhile, this year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is supporting 22.3 billion KRW for game content production projects divided into three categories: general, new growth, and functional.

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