Why Gyeonggi Province is the Mecca of Mobile Games
(August 09, 2011)

Gyeonggi Province opened a mobile came center in Bundang, Sungnam on the 9th
The new facility will focus on finding promising companies and supporting overseas exports

– The Mobile Game Center opened on the 13th story of the Square Building in Bundang, Seongnam August 9th. Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-Soo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choung Byoung-gug, and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-Myung attended the opening ceremony.

Seongnam has become the Mecca of the mobile games industry. How? Because the Mobile Game Center has been opened in the city.

Gyeonggi Province, in association with the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Tourism and Seongnam City, opened a Mobile Game Center on the 13th floor of the Square Building in Bundang in the presence of Governor Kim Moon-Soo, Minister Choung Byoung-gug, and Mayor Lee Jae-Myung on the 9th.

The center is dedicated to discovering up-and-coming mobile game developers and providing support to companies with potential. Unlike the Global Game Hub Center, which focuses on future game development, the Mobile Game Center concentrates on mobile contents for smart phones and tablet computers.

The center will carry out an incubating program for select candidates by giving them access to information on overseas market technology and by supporting their mobile game localization and overseas infrastructure development efforts (such as networks and servers) to help the mobile game industry grow.

Eighteen mobile game developers and four individual developers are scheduled to join the program. Those eligible for support will be exempt from all rent for two years and will receive a 50 percent discount on all utilities. They will also receive management, legal and marketing support and have the privilege of attending related events as well as newest developments abroad. They can receive up to four years of support.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will be in charge of maintaining the center as well as the annual expenses of KRW five billion. The Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency, the Korea Creative Content Agency, and the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency will form a joint committee to supervise the center’s whereabouts and carry out related policies.

Gyeonggi Province and Seongnam has provided 3116 square meter of office space on the 13th floor of Bundang Square, Seohyeon-dong, Bundang-gu where the new facility is located. When the Global Game Hub Center moves to Pangyo Techno Valley in 2013, the Mobile Game Center will follow.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Gyeonggi Province government, and Seongnam agreed to invest in the ever growing smart phone industry and its related sectors on June 16 of 2011. They also agreed to connect the Mobile Game Center with the Global Game Center.

Gyeonggi Province expects the new center to generate USD two billion in mobile game exports and create employment for two thousand local people. It is also forecasted to boost Korea’s game industry and integrate game- related business in one location.

The Seongnam, Bundang, Pangyo area is home to NHN (Hangame), Neo Wiz Games, JC Entertainment (JCE), and eighty or so game-related companies. Two major game developers, NC Soft and Nexon, are also planning to move into the area in 2013, when it is predicted that there will be around 120 game companies in these areas. As such, the birth of a full-fledged game cluster in Gyeonggi Province is not far off.

Governor Kim Moon-Soo said in his opening speech that “Seongnam, Bundang, Pangyo is bustling with a young talented workforce. It has all the right ingredients for the game development industry. Gyeonggi Province will not hesitate to support mobile game companies in the future.”

– News Plus News | Nam Gyeong-u echo2008@kg21.net 

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201108090405587055C049&s_code=C049