SEOUL: China’s ascent in the global gaming industry is no longer a projection but a reality reshaping competitive dynamics across markets worldwide, where South Korean developers once held an edge.
From sheer market size to global export strength, Chinese game companies are rapidly consolidating influence while South Korean firms find themselves battling not only foreign competition, but also a domestic regulatory environment many argue has yet to fully evolve in line with industry-leading standards.
According to the Korea Creative Content Agency’s (KCCA) 2025 Game Industry White Paper, China in 2024 topped the rest of the world in the global game sector with a 24.2% market share, dethroning the United States for the first time.
The United States had a 20.9% market share, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous year, while China’s presence rose by 3.3 percentage points during the same period.
South Korea, on the other hand, slid as its share of the global game market in 2024 fell to 7.2%, down 0.6 percentage points from 2023, logging the lowest figure since 2020.
Experts and stakeholders pointed out that the Chinese government’s all-out push to nurture the country’s game industry has created a lopsided playing field for homegrown firms, whereas South Korean game companies have continuously been slowed down by regulatory constraints.
Kim Jong-il, head of law firm Yoon and Yang’s Game Centre, said South Korean-made games used to take up almost 70% of the game market in China in the early 2000s, but things have never been the same since then.
“China began putting effort into developing web games in 2009 or so,” he said.
“Web games made a splash in China and eventually brought in foreign capital.
“With that, China was able to reinvest in developing mobile games as they became popular.”
In the meantime, South Korea implemented a shutdown law in 2011 that banned children under the age of 16 from playing online games between midnight and 6am, practically forcing local game makers to turn away from developing web games.
South Korea later scrapped the shutdown law on Jan 1, 2022.
“We understand that compliance requirements related to monetisation and content approval are intended to protect users, especially minors,” said an official at a South Korean game company.
“The government is providing tax credits for the production costs for television and film creators and webtoon artists, but game makers have been left out.
“What we are asking the government is to support the game industry instead of regulating it.”
The gap between South Korea and China in the overseas game market has widened in recent years.
According to the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association, China’s overseas game sales reached US$20.4bil last year, about a 10% jump from 2024 while maintaining upward momentum since 2023.
South Korea’s overseas game sales have dipped since 2022 to post US$8.4bil in 2023 and US$8.5bil in 2024, with last year’s figure not available in KCCA’s report.
South Korea appeared to take a big step to support its game industry, an essential part of the country’s overall exports and cultural sector, when President Lee Jae Myung publicly removed the addiction-risk label from games in a meeting with leaders of major South Korean game developers in October last year.
Games account for about half of South Korea’s total content exports. — The Korea Herald/ANN
