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No new Korean games released in China for third year
By Baek Byung-yeul
Chinese game firms are estimated to have generated sales of $1.65 billion in Korea this year, while Korean counterparts struggle with declining sales as they have been blocked from exporting new games to the mainland since 2017, according to data Tuesday.
To protect the local game industry and encourage fair competition, game industry officials here have called on the government to strengthen the screening process of Chinese-made games.
According to a report of China's game industry in 2019 by the Chinese Game Publishers Association Publications Committee (GPC), Chinese game companies have had sales of $11.59 billion in overseas markets in 2019, a 21 percent increase year-on-year, $1.65 billion of that in Korea.
Korea accounted for 14.3 percent to become the third-largest export market for Chinese firms, following the United States which had a 30.9 percent share and Japan with 22.4 percent.
Given the amount of export of Korean games to the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong was decreased to $3.21 billion in 2018 from $3.58 billion in 2017, according to data by the Korea Creative Content Agency, local game companies are losing their footing.
In China, game companies must obtain licenses from the government for new games. Korean game makers have been blocked from exporting games to China since March 2017 when the government there stopped issuing licenses as part of a protest against Korea's deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
"Chinese game companies have been well-received in Korea with their new games that fit with current trends, while Korean game companies are suffering from falling sales as they cannot launch new games on the mainland, which has the world's largest game market," an official of a local game company said.
"The made-in-China games were criticized for their poor quality in the past, but this has become a thing of the past because the Chinese firms are now wowing Korean gamers with their quality games," he said adding he was disappointed with President Moon Jae-in's recent summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping because Moon didn't mention the permit issue.
In reaction to China's refusal to permit Korean firms to sell new games, the sentiment is growing stronger that the government needs to take more active measures to address the issue.
Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae of the Liberty Korea Party urged the culture ministry to establish measures to control imports of Chinese-made games.
"While Korean game companies have been prohibited from selling new games in China due to the THAAD retaliation, we must not let this continue to happen. In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, the government should take action to restrict imports of games made by Chinese companies," the lawmaker said during the National Assembly hearing in October.
Hwang Sung-ik, president of the Korea Mobile Game Association, echoed the opinion urging the government to strengthen the screening process for Chinese games.
"There is a need to strengthen screening processes for Chinese games within a legal framework. For example, there is a government agency called the Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC), which is in charge of reviewing each game before granting the rating. I am calling on the agency to closely monitor Chinese games in order to protect the local game industry," Hwang said.
"It has been three years since Korean game companies have been blocked for exporting their games to China. In response to the Chinese government's suspension on issuance of permits, game industry insiders are keenly feeling the need to regulate importation of Chinese games," he added.
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