Creating a 1 trillion won new market by next year, centered on the game and VR industries
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning Announce Plan to Foster Next-Generation Game Content Combining Culture and ICT

The government has decided to create a new market worth 1 trillion won by 2017, centering on the game and virtual reality (VR) industries.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning held a meeting on "Creating New Content Markets through the Convergence of Culture and Information and Communication Technology (ICT)" at the Kensington Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 19th and announced plans to foster next-generation game content.

The government assessed that the game industry, which is actively incorporating new information and communication technologies (ICT) such as cloud computing and virtual reality (VR), has high growth potential, and predicted that the creation of new markets incorporating VR and similar technologies could significantly contribute to economic revitalization.

Samsung Electronics held a unique virtual reality experience event last November to commemorate the launch of its latest virtual reality headset, 'Gear VR'.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, together with the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, plans to invest 51.9 billion won this year and approximately 155.7 billion won over the next three years until 2018. Through this, the goal is to create a new market worth 1 trillion won by 2017.

The government has decided to expand national research and development (R&D) investment in sectors with high growth potential, such as immersive game content like virtual reality (VR), functional game content including medical and educational fields, and game artificial intelligence (AI), in order to foster next-generation content.

Investment of approximately 155.7 billion won over the next three years until 2018

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided to focus on fostering the VR sector within the game industry, with plans to promote immersive game content, ease regulations related to the industry, expand entry into overseas markets, and establish a foundation for sustainable industrial growth.

To foster the new VR industry, the government is promoting five leading projects including VR games and experiences, VR theme parks, VR platforms, multi-screen projection, and global distribution, and is pursuing the creation of a culture and ICT convergence hub (Sangam DMC) and the development of fundamental and basic technologies through inter-ministerial collaboration.

In addition, along with expanding investment in technology R&D, there are plans to increase support for the production of game content based on convergence technologies to promote the commercialization of developed technologies.

To this end, an immersive content studio and a game technology testbed will be established in the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning's Sangam Digital Pavilion Building during the second half of this year. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will establish the Pangyo Game Boost Center by April 2018.

In addition, regarding the deregulation of the game industry, the introduction of a negative regulation approach is being pursued, which allows operators to conduct 'self-classification' for all games, excluding arcade games and games unsuitable for minors. Previously, games excluding mobile games were classified by the Game Rating and Administration Committee through a review process, but going forward, the classification method will change to self-regulation by game operators.

To establish a socio-cultural foundation for a sustainable game industry, initiatives such as the revitalization of e-sports and prevention of gaming addiction will also be pursued. A joint public-private task force on game regulation improvement will be operated to prepare regulatory reform proposals, including online game payment limits, within the first half of the year.

Support is also provided for targeting overseas markets such as China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South America. To expand entry into overseas markets, the government plans to expand support, including operating joint Korean pavilions at local business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) markets and producing local language translations, to pioneer emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and South America as well as existing markets such as China and Europe.

Through cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, it will be fostered as a hub for the development, distribution, and export of new services, where creators of webtoons, characters, and animations, along with ICT developers, can exchange diverse ideas and technologies, and where content produced in the Culture Creation Convergence Belt is exhibited and commercialized at Sangam DMC.