Korean Game Society: "President Yoon Must Keep Promise That 'Game ≠ Disease'"

"Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Must Announce Game Policy and Budget Within 2 Weeks"
"Domestic Game Industry Needs Generational Change"

Wi Jeong-hyun, president of the Korea Game Society, is holding the "2023 Korea Game Society President's New Year Press Conference" on the 11th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Wi Jeong-hyun, president of the Korea Game Society, made candid remarks criticizing the government's game policies.

The Korea Game Society held the '2023 Korea Game Society President's New Year Press Conference' on the 11th at the TOZ Conference Center near Gangnam Station in Seoul.

President Wi evaluated last year's game industry policies of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and shared his opinions on ▲ the future prospects and policies of the P2E industry ▲ concerns and countermeasures regarding the domestic introduction of the gaming disorder code ▲ prospects for the metaverse industry ▲ issues related to the loot box legislation.

"Does the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism dislike games?"

President Wi expressed regret over the MCST's lack of interest in game policies and the game industry. He called for a reorganization of game policies.

He pointed out, "The Game Society has repeatedly expressed concerns about game passing. In fact, game passing was evident in last year's National Assembly audit, and the game industry was excluded from the 110 national tasks of the new government."

He continued, "There is no more absurd policy than the multi-year production support project issued by the MCST. It makes me think the minister might dislike games."

President Wi also demanded that the MCST disclose the specific budget and policies allocated to games within the K-content budget that includes games this year. Since the export value of the domestic game industry in 2021 was $8.67 billion, accounting for 70% of total content exports, he argued that systematic support for the game industry is necessary.

He requested the MCST to reorganize and announce the policies and total budget necessary for the promotion of the game industry within two weeks. If the MCST fails to provide a clear response, he plans to conduct a survey evaluating the current government's game policies targeting academia, industry, and media professionals.

President Wi voiced concerns about the domestic introduction of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s gaming disorder disease code. In 2019, WHO classified 'gaming addiction' (gaming disorder) as a disease and included it in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Discussions have been ongoing for years in Korea on whether to define gaming as a disease, but no conclusion has been reached.

President Wi emphasized, "I hope President Yoon Seok-yeol keeps his campaign promise to change the existing perspective that views gaming as a disease. Gamers should not be used as a means to gain votes, and this was clearly promised during the campaign."

President Yoon Suk-yeol

Game Industry Following 1990s Japan, Needs Generational Change

President Wi also advocated for a generational change to advance the domestic game industry.

He said, "Our country's game industry is progressing similarly to Japan's console business from 1995 to 1999. At that time, Japanese consoles competed through aggressive advertising, IP recycling, serialization, and dominance by large corporations, which is very similar to the current domestic situation."

He added, "I believe the capabilities of the first generation of game developers have now been exhausted. The issue of loot boxes arose because generational change has not occurred. Currently, the domestic game industry has talented developers in their 30s, but developers over 40 are not absorbing their energy."

He expressed a negative view on the P2E (Play to Earn) and metaverse (expanded virtual world) markets.

President Wi evaluated that P2E was never the future of gaming and said, "Beyond P2E games, the core of the coin economy was distribution and trust, but game companies overlooked this point."

He further stated, "In relationships between companies, game companies are not trusted, and the coins issued by game companies are even less trusted. The financial sector also views game companies with skepticism regarding trustworthiness. I think we can now look at reality coldly."