Korean Gaming Industry's Market Share Dwindles

Korean game developers accounted for only 6.2 percent of the global market last year, falling from fourth to fifth place after being overtaken by the U.K.

Their combined sales increased nine percent on-year in 2019, but their slice of the global market dwindled. Sales totaled W15.58 trillion, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Monday (US$1=W1,104).

The global market grew five percent to US$186.4 billion, so Korea's market share declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.2 percent. The U.S. ranked first with a 20.1-percent share, followed by China (18.7 percent), Japan (11.8 percent) and the U.K. (6.3 percent).

In 2018, Korea ranked fourth with 6.3 percent ahead of the U.K.'s 5.6 percent.

Game imports also declined 2.5 percent to $298.13 million, so the Korean industry still racked up a trade surplus of about $6.4 billion, or a substantial 16 percent of Korea's total trade surplus of $38.9 billion last year.

A staffer at the Korea Creative Content Agency said, "The game industry may be smaller than the manufacturing and IT industries, but it is playing its part in contributing to the country's exports."