Despite the 36+ hour door-to-door transit time, I was very much looking forward to my first trip to Korea. I was invited by the Korean Game Development & Promotion Institute (the game support arm of the Ministry of Culture) to lecture on industry issues during the Korean Game Conference.

The first thing you notice is how infused gaming/games are into Korean culture. They are simply everywhere and no one really questions their place among other forms of art and entertainment.

Coming off of the Montreal Summit just a week prior, I was quite taken back by the opening keynote that echoed much of Warren Spector’s discontent with the industry. HakGyu Kim, the CEO of Ragnarok Online creator IMC Games, referenced the “Blue Ocean Strategy” book as a call to be more innovative, take more risk and reach out to broader audiences. (Raph Koster took much more extensive notes on the keynote.) In effect, finding the “blue ocean” became the underlying current/theme of the entire conference as nearly every subsequent speaker referenced Kim’s comment in some fashion…

Overall, KGC was a solid and well organized conference, with an impressive 2000+ attendance. Sadly, aside from the keynotes, the majority of sessions by Korean developers were not translated. So, instead of learning more about the Korean industry, I was mostly “forced” to listen to fellow North American speakers. This is something they should work on for next year as the try to attract a more international audience.

Running alongside KGC was the more E3-like game expo G*. Taking a quick spring around the expo floor, there were a lot of interesting looking games. But, what is most startling is when you realize that, despite similarities to E3, none of these games will ever hit a retail shelf! Korea is so overwhelming based on the subscription model, digital downloads and the burgeoning RMT approach (ie, real-money-transactions for in-game goods), that there is literally no retail side to the industry (of course, originally prompted by overwhelming piracy, as gman comments below).

Luckily, I had a bit of free time on the Saturday to head into downtown Seoul. Travel virgin, Marty O’Donnell (from Bungie) was happy for me to hold his hand as we wandered about… (see the touristy photos way below)

As usual, here are a bunch of pics that I snapped during my visit to Korea.


Somewhat less of a novelty now that we have G4, but the hotel room had at least three chanels dedicated to games.


Conference organizer Estella Kwak (KGDI) greets Clint Hocking (Ubisoft Montreal) and Raph Koster (Sony Online) at the hotel.


Adoring Fans: Fine, not mine - I was sitting next to Raph, who got bombarded by photogs…


…until they decided it was best to get his autograph as well.


HakGyu Kim (IMC Games) yearns for the blue ocean during his opening keynote.


Bill Roper (Flagship Studios) got mauled as well.


Certainly not something you’d see at E3. Busses full of kids were coming to check out the games at G*.


Dylan Miklashek (Pandemic) and Marty O’Donnell (Bungie) enjoying lunch.


Renowned Japanese artist Toshinobu Kondo discusses creating game characters, manga style.


Nearly all sessions were packed. The conference welcomed over 2000 attendees.


Lost in translation…


Unlike E3, there was a whole section dedicated to gambling/casino oriented games.


One of the cooler games, “Doogi Doogi” is a drums based beamani style game. Very noisy.


The honorable Hideo Kojima on hand to sign autographs at Konami’s G* stand.


Didn’t realize that cosplay was so tiring - this was only after lunch on the first day!


Kart Rider, currently the number one game in Korea. Very similar to Mario Kart, except it is online-only and revenue is generated from in-game purchases for upgrades, etc.


Surprisingly, there were quite a few “senior” gamers taking in the spectacle.


Tomo Hisanaga (Capcom) not amused with all of the lengthy welcoming speeches during the VIP dinner.


There was some kind of indie/student game dev festival, but I couldn’t quite figure things out as none of it was translated to English.


KGDI president Jong-Sik Woo bids everyone thanks and farely during the closing party.


Part of the closing party, KGDA president Mu-Sik Jung was giving out the indie festival prizes. Again, no clue what was going on :(


Steven Davis (IT GlobalSecure) enjoying a closing party beer with Clint and Marty.


Marty and I started our touring at the South Gate.


Marty dives into the Namdaemun Market.


The Seoul Tower off in the distance.


A serene pond at Deoksugung Palace.


Very ornate architecture on the Deoksugung Palace (kinda looks like little Pokemon creatures).


Out of place: An early 20th century Anglican church just next door to the Deoksugung Palace. Was weird to see it there.


Not sure what building that is, but talk about funky/modern architecture.


The city long river just pops out of side of the street. Was very cool.


The statue of Admiral Lee Sun-Sin looked pretty impressive standing in the middle of the downtown boulevard.


…as did the VERY long clubs of the patrolling police.


The entry gate to the Gyeongbokgung Palace.


Field Research: Marty recording the music from Gyeongbokgung Palace’s changing of the guard ceremony.


More Gyeongbokgung Palace guard action.