The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) released the '2025 Korea Game White Paper' on the 25th, detailing the state of the domestic and international gaming industries throughout 2024.

This report covers the growth metrics of the local gaming industry, including total revenue and exports. According to the data, the total revenue for the domestic industry reached 23.8515 trillion KRW in 2024. The growth rate settled to a modest 3.9%. Exports reached 8.50346 billion USD (approximately 11.5985 trillion KRW), a 1.3% increase compared to the previous year.

Breaking it down by platform, mobile games account for 14.071 trillion KRW (59.0%), PC games for 6.0094 trillion KRW (25.2%), console games for 1.1836 trillion KRW (5.0%), and arcade games for 275.9 billion KRW (1.2%). Mobile remains the largest segment, holding over half the market share. Growth rates were 4.8% for consoles, 3.4% for mobile, and 2.0% for PC, while the arcade sector saw a 3.2% decline.

That said, the number of arcade game centers has been on a rebound since 2023, showing a slight uptick in growth. Meanwhile, PC bang revenue grew by 12.8% year-on-year, though the total number of businesses continues its downward trend.

The global gaming market in 2024 is estimated to be worth 220.071 billion USD, a 0.7% increase from the year prior. South Korea maintains a 7.2% global market share, holding 4th place behind China, the US, and Japan.

In terms of export destinations, China leads at 29.7%, followed by Southeast Asia (20.6%), North America (19.5%), and Japan (8.3%). Notably, the share of the North American (+4.7%p) and Chinese (+4.2%p) markets expanded. Imports fell by 3.2% to 245.574 million USD (approximately 334.9 billion KRW).

The industry's workforce grew by 3.1% to 87,576 people in 2024. With 54,285 people (62.0%) in game development and publishing, and 33,291 (38.0%) in distribution, the industry remains heavily skewed toward production and publishing.

Yoo Hyun-seok, Acting President of KOCCA, remarked, "This white paper serves as a pivotal milestone for diagnosing the current state of the domestic game industry and mapping out future strategies." He added, "We will continue to provide data-driven support to ensure K-Games maintain their competitive edge in the global market."

The 2025 Korea Game White Paper is available for free at the official KOCCA website.