[MUSAI] How COVID-19 is Affecting the Korean Gaming Industry
2020-03-12
Aside of the announcement made by WHO, which COVID-19 is now officially a pandemic, its ripple effect has been tremendous in worldwide. The gaming industry in Korea couldn’t be exceptional. Employees are encouraged to work from home. Gaming events including trade shows and E-sports are postponed. The wave of donation has been arisen among Korean game companies.
Work from home recommendation
The policy to work remotely due to COVID-19 has been expanded in Korea. Most of the gaming companies including middle and small sized ones in Korea started to encourage telecommuting since last week of February to protect their employees and prevent spreading COVID-19. Since the government has strongly suggested to work from home to more industries, this tendency of the gaming industry seems to be continued until the concern of the potential spread of the coronavirus is mitigated.
Gaming events in Korea canceled and postponed
Most of the events across the game industry in Korea have been canceled and postponed like other international game shows because of the coronavirus concerns.
Gaming Events
- NDC (Nexon Developers Conference) which was scheduled on 8th June, has been postponed tentatively.
- Seoul VR/AR Expo 2020 which has been scheduled on April, has a possibility to be postponed.
- PlayX4 which was scheduled on May 14th, didn’t give an official announcement yet but postponed the pre-registration.
Esports
- LCK (League of legends Champions Korea) has been postponed tentatively.
- Overwatch 2020 Seoul Dynasty Homestand has been cancelled.
Wave of donation
Major game publishers in Korea are making donations to help people suffering from COVID-19.
Nexon, NCsoft and Netmarble donated 2 billion won per each company. Not only major ones, but other gaming companies like PUBG, WEMADE, GAMEVIL, KRAFTTON have joined to this wave of donation to overcome the COIVD-19 situation. This flow has moved to many famous gaming influencers and esports players, and they also donated money for supplies like masks to relief the situation.
[Photo 1] 3N companies donated and start telecommuting due to Covid-19
Our partners in worldwide have asked if everyone in Korea is doing well with warm-hearted messages amid COVID-19 concerns. Some of them have decided inevitably to refrain flying internationally including Korea. We hope that everyone stays safe in the Covid-19 situation.
** Did you enjoy the news of Musai? Please click subscribe and share the story.
BOOST YOUR PLAY! Musai Studio
