The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (Minister Yu In-chon) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (Director Jo Hyeon-rae, hereinafter referred to as KOCCA) held the ‘2023 Global Game Hub Center Homecoming Day’ on December 6th at the Global Game Hub Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi-do.

The Global Game Hub Center, located in the LH Corporate Growth Center in the 2nd Pangyo Techno Valley in Gyeonggi-do, is a facility specialized in supporting domestic representative game companies with a focus on game genres. Since its establishment in 2009, the center has been providing office spaces and capacity-building programs with growth potential to game companies in their early stages, enabling them to evolve into capable game developers.

This Homecoming Day event was organized as a platform for exchange among the Global Game Hub Center resident companies, alumni companies, and professionals in the domestic gaming industry. With the participation of around 90 attendees, including resident and alumni companies, publishers, and investors, the event featured various programs such as expert seminars, presentations on the outstanding achievements of resident and alumni companies at the Global Game Hub Center, and a networking reception.

As the first order of the event, a seminar titled ‘Seminar for Domestic Small Game Development Companies’ was conducted. Kim Sung-jun, the Head of the Game Division at KOCCA, presented the current status of the Global Game Hub Center and key improvements for the next year. Kim Sung-tae, the editor-in-chief of the game media outlet GameShot, provided a review of the 2023 gaming market and outlook for 2024. Under the sub-theme ‘7 Trends Penetrating the Domestic Game Industry,’ he shared trends and insights into the domestic and international game industry.

Following that, professionals from Samil PwC, including accountant Kim Chang-kyu and Unicorn Friends at Samil PwC, shared expertise on the taxation system for stock options and the efficiency improvement of platform settlement processes. Unity Korea Partner Jeong Jeong-ho presented information on Unity’s policies and technical support for 2024, including details from the adjustments made to runtime fees announced in the second half of this year.

As the second part of the event, there was a presentation on the ‘Outstanding Achievements of Resident and Alumni Companies at the Global Game Hub Center.’ This year, ‘Super Engine,’ the creator of the successful globally launched mobile idle RPG ‘Rumble Knights,’ was selected as an outstanding resident company. Additionally, ‘Load Complete,’ which successfully launched mobile RPGs such as ‘Crusader Quest’ and mobile idle RPG ‘Legend of Slime,’ was chosen as an outstanding alumni company.

Since 2021, Kim Dong-jun, the CEO of Super Engine, currently residing at the Global Game Hub Center, introduced the company’s challenges in the hybrid casual genre with the theme ‘Growth Strategy for Small Businesses – Growing Edgily Beyond Survival.’ He shared insights into Super Engine’s endeavors in the hybrid casual genre and also discussed cost-saving cases through the development of generative AI application technology. Additionally, he shared the company’s strategy for actively responding to recent trends in AI.

The outstanding alumni company, Road Complete, selected for its meticulous data-driven strategic planning and differentiated global marketing expansion, has achieved cumulative revenue of over 100 billion KRW since its graduation in 2015. Representative Bae Jeong-hyun of Road Complete presented the global success know-how of their hit game ‘Legend of Slime.’ He introduced key considerations for each stage of the 3-step process – ‘User Acquisition (Acquisition) – User Retention (Retention) – Monetization (Monetization),’ sharing the company’s unique expertise in these areas.

Finally, following the seminar, a ‘Networking Reception’ was held to facilitate business networking among resident and alumni companies, as well as key professionals in the gaming industry. The event aimed to foster diverse collaboration relationships and explore opportunities for cooperation.

Meanwhile, KOCCA plans to announce the recruitment of new resident companies for the Global Game Hub Center in the first quarter of 2024. In January, the recruitment will target small game development companies and prospective/early-stage game development companies (those with less than 5 years since establishment). Selected companies will receive various benefits, including support for rent and management fees, investment attraction, consulting, use of development software, and testbed support.

For inquiries and connections with Korean tech companies mentioned in this article, contact us at [email protected]. We’re here to facilitate valuable partnerships.

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