On March 10 this year, the results of South Korea's presidential election were announced, and Yoon Seok-wook, the candidate of the largest opposition national power party, was successfully elected and will officially replace Moon Jae-in as south Korea's 20th president in May.
Late last month, Moon also said at his last meeting at the Blue House that he would leave the Blue House on May 9.
Moon Jae-in (Source: Moon Jae-in's official blog)
Moon's contributions to the Korean game industry during his tenure have been widely recognized by industry insiders, and his relaxed policies for the game industry have also promoted the development of the Korean game industry. Recently, The Korean media also published an article reviewing the efforts made by the president for the Korean game industry during his tenure.
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Since his candidacy, former South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been working the deregulation and industry cultivation of the Korean game industry, which has also received positive comments from inside and outside the Korean game industry.
Back in April 2017, at the Presidential Candidate Forum, then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in said that "due to excessive government regulation, including negative perceptions of the game itself, the competitiveness of the Korean game industry has declined." But if that situation is improved, I think it will once again be an engine of economic growth. This remark has also attracted the attention of the majority of game enthusiasts.
The gaming community also responded to Moon's support. In May 2017, 20 people in the game industry, including Lee Jae-hong, president of the Korea Game Association, kim Byung-so, president of the Korean Online Game PC Culture Association, gathered in the national assembly to announce their support. They described the 10 years in power of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye as "a dark period for the game industry" and expressed confidence that Moon jae-in is the best person to revive the South Korean game industry.
At the beginning of his tenure, Moon announced the Implementation Order of the Game Industry Promotion Law, which included easing regulation of the virtual reality (VR) game business and setting clear business standards for virtual reality games. In addition, Krafton Chairman Jang Byung-kyu was elected chairman of the Presidential Committee of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in South Korea, which also shows his important position in the Korean game industry.
Deregulation and pro-gaming industry initiatives
At the end of 2017, Moon also made a state visit to China and gave a speech at Peking University, including Wemade CEO Zhang Xianguo and PEARL ABYSS President Kim Dae-il, the first case of a game industry member joining the delegation. In addition, when Moon Jae-in visited Sweden in 2019, he also watched the e-sports game of "Call of the Devil" with King Carl VI Gustav of Sweden.
During his tenure, Moon Jae-in invited people from the game industry to the Blue House, such as Restone Chairman Fang Joon-hyuk and NCSoft representative Kanazawa Town, to attend the "2019 Entrepreneur Talk". At that time, President Kim briefed President Moon on the current problems in the game industry, and a month later, Kanazawa attended the first "Innovation Risk Enterprise Conference" and asked the government for wise support.
Moon's emphasis on deregulation of the game industry before the election has also achieved good results, a representative example is the abolition of the "game curfew", which was proposed in 2011 under the banner of defending the right to sleep and the right to study of young people, and has been maintained to this day despite the continued demands of the game industry.
Last year, people from all walks of life were actively addressing the problems caused by teenagers' inability to play Minecraft. The political community also responded to the voices of players advocating regulatory reforms, announcing the abolition of the system at the 15th Council of Ministers of Social Relations chaired by Vice Premier and Education Minister Yoo Eun-hye in August of the same year.
A continuation of the blockchain problem
It is worth mentioning that in 2019, the South Korean government abolished the limit on the payment limit for adult online games, which was previously 500,000 won per month (about 2,650 yuan according to the current exchange rate), and in 2020, the limit on daily consumption of online board games not exceeding 100,000 won was also lifted.
However, there are still some unsatisfactory points. The "Korean restriction order" caused by the THAAD problem in 2017 also had an impact on the Korean game industry, although works such as "Magic Summons" and "Black Desert Mobile Game" have received version numbers released in the Chinese market, but only a small number of works. However, there are also views that this also indicates a sign of recovery.
Of course, there is also the problem of blockchain and P2E games, at present, due to the existence of speculative factors, Korean P2E games are restricted in China, and at the moment when blockchain has become a hot topic in the industry, the Korean government has restricted the development of such games.
Overall, the South Korean game industry generally agrees that the game policies of President Moon Jae-in's presidency have achieved tangible results, and it is hoped that this direction will not change with the change of government.
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