JUNE 2018 FORBES ASIA | 75G
aming has long been the
national obsession in
South Korea, and now
there are six game developers
among the country’s 50 richest.
All are billionaires, and one
cracks the list for the irst time:
38-year-old Kim Dae-Il, who
joins at No. 42.
Kim look his company, Pearl
Abyss, public last September,
riding the huge success of its
only title, Black Desert. It’s an
action-packed role-playing game
that’s reaped more than $400
million in revenue since its 2015
debut, 80% of that from over-
seas. He says he had dreamed of
becoming a gaming developer
since middle school. He dropped out of college
and later started the company with three friends.
He owns 37%, while his cofounders each own
between 3.7% and 5.3%. Christine Sun, who repre-
sents the company, attributes the game’s popularity
to “the sophisticated character-customization tool
that no other game can compete with.”
he other gamer billionaires built their for-
tunes in diferent sectors, each a pioneer with their
own stories. here’s No. 5 Kim Jung-Ju, or JJ, of
Nexon in free online games; No. 9 Bang Jun-Hyuk
of Netmarble in mobile games; and No. 24 Kim
Taek-Jin, or TJ, of NCSot in the online market.
here’s also No. 8 Kwon Hyuk-Bin of Smilegate
and No. 35 Lee Joon-Ho of NHN Entertainment.
How did South Korea reach the point where
just about everyone seems to be mesmerized
by one game or another? Some 88.7% of people
said they had played a game on their phone
recently, according to a survey last year by the
Korea Creative Content Agency, an ofshoot of
the government’s culture ministry. he “gaming
culture” began 20 years ago with the 1997–1998
economic crisis, according to the agency’s Lee Tae-
Hee, who worked for gaming companies for ten
years. With the economy in the doldrums, young
people, many of them jobless, turned to the early,and primitive, computer games. “Gaming was very
cheap and new entertainment,” he says.
At the same time, the government responded
to the crisis with a massive upgrade of the inter-
net infrastructure, leading to an internet boom
and a lourishing gaming industry. “Competi-
tion among enterprises spurred market growth,”
says Seo Hyeon-Il, manager at the Korea Game
Industry Association.
Today gaming is a key part of the Korean
Wave, as with K-Pop and K-Beauty. Produced by
some 800 developers and publishers, computer
and online games amassed more than $11 billion
in revenue last year in South Korea. And 48% of
the players are women, according to the survey.
“A large number of female game users are drawn
to a game that stresses the importance of coop-
eration and interactions among players, more
than double the preference for irst-person-
shooter games,” states the report on the survey.
he lure of foreign sales is jacking up the
competition among Korean game producers
and against foreign rivals. In 2016 export sales
totaled $3.3 billion. he country commands
15.2% of the global market for online gaming,
between irst-place China and third-place U.S.
—Donald KirkPlaying for Prot
GAMINGKim Dae-Il is a newcomer to the list, ranked at No. 42.- LEE JOON-HO
$1.17 BILLION S
NAVER & NHN ENTERTAINMENT
AGE: 53 - KENNY PARK
$1.16 BILLION (^) Ì
SIMONE ACCESSORY
AGE: 63
- KOO BON-NEUNG
$1.15 BILLION
HEESUNG
AGE: 69 - SHIN DONG-JOO
$1.12 BILLION
LOTTE
AGE: 64 - HONG SEOK-JOH
$1.1 BILLION T
BGF RETAIL
AGE: 65 - LEE SANG-HYUK
$1.08 BILLION
YELLO MOBILE
AGE: 47 - CHO HYUN-JOON
$1.07 BILLION S
HYOSUNG
AGE: 50 - KIM DAE-IL
$1.05 BILLION Ì
PEARL ABYSS
AGE: 38 - MICHAEL KIM
$1.04 BILLION
MBK PARTNERS
AGE: 54 - KIM NAM-GOO
$1.02 BILLION 3
KOREA INVESTMENT HOLDINGS
AGE: 54 - KOO BON-JOON
$1 BILLION S
LG GROUP
AGE: 66 - CHO YANG-RAI
$960 MILLION T
HANKOOK TIRE
AGE: 80 - BOM KIM
$950 MILLION
COUPANG AGE: 39 - LEE HAE-JIN
$940 MILLION T
NAVER AGE: 50 - LEE SANG-ROK
$930 MILLION (^) Ì
CARVER KOREA
AGE: 43
- LEE SANG-IL
$880 MILLION
ILJIN AGE: 79
THE LIST
SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%
ÌNEW TO LIST^3 RETURNEE