earticle

영어

This study explored the effectiveness and areas for improvement of regional global game centers through in-depth interviews with experts in the game industry. The expert interviews revealed a generally negative perception regarding the current effectiveness of these centers. Nevertheless, the majority of experts argued for the continued existence of regional global game centers. Perspectives were offered suggesting that the high performance attributed to the Seoul metropolitan area might be an illusion created by a few large corporations, and that the role of regional global game centers is crucial in the current market structure where indie games are gaining prominence. Furthermore, the phenomenon of Seoul-based companies relocating to regional areas could have a positive effect by allowing developers with the will and experience in game development to remain in the industry and thrive in local regions. As for improvements, increasing the expertise and fairness of evaluation committees and developing and applying innovative evaluation metrics that reflect the unique characteristics of the game industry, rather than outdated quantitative performance indicators (KPIs), were prioritized. Specifically, given that games do not generate revenue during their development period and create high value with a small number of personnel, the experts criticized uniform metric targets like sales or new hires, stating they lead to superficial game development and marginalize promising small-scale companies.