Chinese games expand foothold in South Korea

Chinese games are making deep inroads into South Korea, increasing their presence in the mobile gaming market amid a lack of restrictions on foreign titles.

Chinese game exports to Korea have surged more than 20% over the past four years, reaching $1.65 billion in 2024, according to data published Thursday by the Game Publishing Committee (GPC). The GPC falls under the China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association.

Korea has now become the third-largest market for Chinese games, behind only the US and Japan, which accounted for 31.1% and 17.3% of Chinese gaming exports, respectively.

Chinese titles claim three of the five highest-grossing games in Korea on Google’s Android app marketplace.

“Whiteout Survival,” “Last War: Survival” and “19: Inferno Nine” ranked second, third and fifth on the charts as of March 6.

In contrast, Korean gaming exports to China have been on the decline. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, China accounted for 30.1% of Korean gaming exports in 2022, down from 34.1% in 2021.

Industry observers point to Beijing’s regulatory restrictions on foreign gaming publishers. To release a game in China, companies must obtain a government-issued license.

“Only games released four to five years ago are receiving distribution approvals, making it difficult for newer Korean titles to succeed in the Chinese market,” said one industry executive.

In contrast, new Chinese games face no such regulatory hurdles in Korea.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjw@hankyung.com
 

Joel Levin edited this article.