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Despite this potential, the persecution of the gaming industry was relentless. The industry was forced to collapse when claims that “gaming addiction is a disease” continued beyond various regulations.
But earlier this year, the assessment of the gaming industry changed. While there has been massive damage to the traditional industry after the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the gaming industry has not been much affected even in the remote era, instead it has become a leader in the Ontact industry. Even the World Health Organization (WHO), which tried to register gaming addiction as a disease code, issued a statement that said: “ It encourages playing games at home rather than personal contact. ”
When the stock market crashed due to the impact of the crown in the first half, it was also gaming stocks that played the role of defensive stocks. The share price of NCsoft, the boss’s leader, registered 997,000 won in July, showing that the perception of the gaming industry has changed.
The government is also paying attention to the gaming industry in a situation where there is an urgent need for economic growth after Corona 19. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on May 7 the ‘Comprehensive Plan for the Promotion of Gaming Industry ‘together with the relevant ministries. Various support measures were included, such as reforming the regulations of arcade games and clarifying the protection of the rights and interests of game users, as well as supporting exports of small and medium-sized gaming companies.
The gaming industry is growing steadily every year with an upward curve. According to the 2019 Korean Games White Paper published by the Korea Creative Content Agency last year, the size of the national games market exceeded 14 trillion won in 2018. This is an 8.7% increase from the 13 trillion to 142.3 billion won in 2017. In 2013, the market size decreased by 0.3% compared to the previous year, but it recovered immediately in 2014 and continued to grow from then until 2018.
The white paper predicted that in 2019, the domestic games market will increase by 5.1% compared to 2018, reaching 15.172 billion won. According to the white paper, as of 2018, Korea held 6.3% of the global gaming market, ranking fourth after the United States, China, and Japan.
In 2018, exports of the domestic gaming industry increased 8.2% year-on-year to $ 6,411.49 million (7,546 trillion won, applying the Bank of Korea’s 1100.3-won average annual trade rate). Imports also increased 16.3% year-on-year to $ 35.78 million (3.365 billion won).
As the industrial scale grows, it is also contributing greatly to job creation. In 2018, the total number of people working in the gaming industry was 85,492. Among them, the number of workers in the gaming production and distribution companies is 37,035, which represents 43.3% of the total number of workers in the industry.
The number of employees in game production and distribution companies in 2018 was 37,035, an increase of 6.8% compared to 34,666 last year. The number of practitioners increased across all game platforms, and although the overall proportion was not large, the rate of increase of practitioners in console and arcade games was also relatively high.
It is worth highlighting the employment situation of the gaming industry by age and year. When looking at the current state of workers by age in the gaming industry in 2018, 39,020 people under 29 years old accounted for the largest proportion, representing 45.6% of the total. Next, those aged 30 and over and those under 34 represented 18.2% with 15,524 people, and those aged 35 and over and under 39 years old represented 16.8% with 10,4351. Those aged 40 to 49 represented 12,272 people, 14.4%, while those aged 50 and over numbered 4,325, 5.1%.
As the current Corona 19 crisis drags on, youth unemployment is becoming the worst situation ever. Last month’s unemployment rate was 3.7%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the same month last year, and was the highest in 20 years since October 2000 (3.7%). Among them, the youth unemployment rate was 8.3%, the highest in two years since October 2018 (8.4%).
Considering the indicator that the 2030 share of total workers exceeds 70%, the industry opinion is that the games industry can be one of the good ways to solve youth unemployment.
In 2018, the number of workers under the age of 29 was 39,020, an annual average increase of 9.5% from 2016 to 2018. The number of workers aged 30 to 34 was 15,524, an average annual increase of 2.7 %. The number of employees aged 35 to 39 was 14,351, an average annual increase of 1.2%, 12,272 persons aged 40 to 49, and 4,325 workers aged 50 and over. Furthermore, the number of workers over 40 years of age showed an average annual increase of 14.2%.
In a briefing last May, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo said: “The Korean gaming industry has recorded an average annual growth rate of 9.8% over the past 10 years, and only 85,000 workers “. “The total trade surplus represents 8.8%, so the operating margin is higher than that of any other industry.” High value-added industry. “
The esports industry is developing just like the games industry. E-sports derived from the large branch of games have now established themselves as a new industry group. In particular, although most of the traditional sports stopped after the crown, e-Sports could be operated with minimal interruption, with the feature that e-Sports can be performed by untact.
According to NewZoo, a games research company, the global esports industry has been growing at an annual average of around 28.0% for five years since 2013, primarily in the US and China. The market size reached $ 1,096 million (1.3 trillion won), an increase of 26.7% from the previous year, from $ 865 million in 2018 (1,265 billion won). By 2022, the scale is expected to increase to $ 1.79 billion (about 2.12 trillion won).
In the future, the esports industry is expected to show faster growth. This is because traditional sports teams such as the English Premier League (EPL) and American Professional Basketball (NBA), as well as Formula One (F1), the world’s largest auto racing competition, have recently established teams. game professionals one after another.
The e-sports industry in Korea is also growing steadily. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, the size of the Korean esports industry increased from 97.3 billion won in 2017 to 1139 billion won, an increase of 17.1% over the previous year in 2018. .
As it is an industry with great potential, business investment is also increasing. In Korea, large corporations like KT, SK Telecom, and Hanwha Life Insurance are constantly investing in esports. As of 2018, national investment in esports amounted to 42.9 billion won, and last year it doubled to 1.163 billion won.
SK Telecom runs the ‘T1’ professional gaming team, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, starting with the StarCraft Pro team in 2004. ‘Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok)’, which debuted in esports in 2013 and won the World Cup 3 times, belongs to T1. SK Telecom’s annual esports investment cost is known to exceed the annual operating costs of national professional basketball and volleyball clubs. Hanwha Life Insurance also founded the LOL’Hanwha Life eSports’ professional gaming team in April 2018 and entered the esports industry for the first time in the insurance industry.
As the esports industry develops, occupations are also increasing. First of all, there are technical staff, such as coaches and trainers, and managers, mainly for professional players. Also gaining attention is work as an esports analyst who specializes in analyzing only game and player information and helping coaches prepare game strategies.
In addition, the influence of the media group is also growing, and occupations such as game host, presenter, commentator, performer, broadcast cameraman, broadcast engineer, observer, content creator, reporter, etc., played a key role in traditional sports are also increasing in importance in the esports industry.
A teacher who has been teaching in high school for 10 years said: “There were many students who wanted to become professional players for 4-5 years, but at that time, there were many friends talking about this vaguely because they liked games.” . As they became more specialized, the number of students who were expecting specialized jobs like ‘Gaming Team PR Team’ and ‘Data Analyst’ increased, “he said. He added: “The increasing size and specialization of the industry group will surely have a positive effect on the youth and youth.”
An industry official who worked at the head of an esports club in the past and is currently in charge of operating a small and medium-sized gaming company said: “The Korean games industry and the esports industry have become developed rapidly and are still full of growth potential. ” said. He added: “It will not be bad to present the gaming industry and the e-sports industry as an alternative to solve the blue chip in the era of the ‘post-corona’ and the labor difficulties of the 2030 generation.”
