Game industry hopes deregulation on Moon's win
By Yoon Sung-won
The Korean game industry is likely to grow on the back of political support from the new government that will be led by President-elect Moon Jae-in.
Moon had repeatedly pledged to foster the game industry as the nation’s new growth engine throughout his presidential election campaign. Expectations are high that Moon will lift regulations on the industry that had been set by previous administrations under former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.
Moon pointed out the negative views on games and ill-placed regulations have forced Korea’s game industry to lose its place on the global stage.
“There was a time when Korea was the world’s best in the game and e-sports industry,” Moon said at a forum in Seoul on April 14. “But multiple regulations have expanded negative views on games. While we remain stagnant, other countries such as China have surpassed us.”
Moon has also stressed the game industry will prosper through deregulation.
“In the e-sports sector, Korea came to have world-class players through diverse support measures,” he said. “I believe that the game industry will become a national growth engine once again through de-regulation.”
The game industry has faced multiple regulations during the previous two administrations. One of them called the “online game shutdown law.” Introduced in November 2011, this law forbid children younger than 16 to play online games between midnight and 6 a.m.
Amid concerns of parents who worried about children’s excessive use of games, the administrations came up with policies on assumptions that excessive game play is as harmful as drug addiction.
The Korea Association of Game Industry and Korean game businesses have opposed such negative views on games and the resultant multi-layer, web-like regulations. Moon seems to sympathize with them.
“The game industry here is entangled with double or triple regulations,” Moon said. “All these restrictions should be changed into ex-post regulations. Deregulating the game industry will benefit the growth of the Korean economy.”
According to K-Games, Moon and the Democratic Party of Korea have promised to foster not just the game industry but also the whole content industry. To this end, the President-elect and the party will support smaller content creators while cramping down the collusion and monopoly of large enterprises.
“Basically, businesses should abide by their own self-regulating measures. The government should focus on ex-post measures and precautions against excessive use of games,” the party said.
It also pledged to discuss with parents and civic groups to adjust political measures.
Moon has said he will deregulate the game industry as much as possible with the minimum restrictions as stipulated in the law.
The game industry has also welcomed Moon’s pledges. Industry experts including Korea Game Society President Lee Jae-dong, Next-generation Convergence Contents Industry Association Chairman Choi Yo-chul and Chung Ang University Professor Wi Jong-hyun said on May 1 they support Moon. It was the first time for the game industry experts to express their support for a presidential candidate.
“The last decade under the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations was the dark age for the game industry,” the game industry experts said in a statement. “During this period, the ecosystem of the game industry here has been destroyed, the gap between large enterprises and smaller ones has been widened and developers lost creativity.”
Wi said, “Moon has more insight than any other candidate. We believe that he will help Korea as a powerhouse in the global game industry again.”