South Korean Government Supports Gaming Industry

The South Korean Culture, Sports, and Tourism Minister In-Chon Yu announced Wednesday that the South Korean government will be investing 350 billion Won (approx. $237 million) in the PC gaming industry until 2012. The goal of this plan is to bring South Korea into the worldwide gaming industry, along the United States and Japan.

This plan will supply the Korean gaming industry with 87.5 billion Won (approx. $60 million) each year. The plan came from the gaming industry meeting its goal to be a billion-dollar export two years earlier than the expected 2010 date set. Among the stated goals to be executed are sixty projects to assist In-Chon’s desire to bring Korea into the world market.

Many gamers already know that Blizzard chose Korea to unveil StarCraft II at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in 2007, showing that at least Blizzard recognized the huge fan base that exists there. The StarCraft II trailer shown even included a Korean language track for the Terran Marine. The plan to focus on PC gaming is an obvious one for Korea, with the massive amount of PC cafés that hound the streets.

Korea is also the same country that had the slew of deaths from gamers playing marathon sessions, dying from heart failure, to the death of an infant due to parents leaving the house to play World of Warcraft at a nearby PC café. Even with this new plan, the Korean government needs to become more aware of the growing problem of marathon gaming at cheap PC cafés.

South Korea’s plan to invest into the PC industry is strange because the government, not private investors, are fronting the money. With $60 million a year, it is expected to see many new developers emerge and long-standing developers like NCsoft witness an influx of funds to keep creating and releasing titles. Hopefully the Korean industry does not see an explosion of quick-released, subpar titles damage this exciting plan.