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Game Industry Gets New Work Rules and Stronger Copyright Moves

South KoreaThursday, April 30, 2026
The game makers in Korea are getting a fresh set of rules that let them work more flexibly. A meeting was held on March 30 where the government talked about changing the strict “52‑hour week” rule. The gaming world usually moves fast, with big projects that need bursts of hard work. Because the old system is too rigid, it hurts how well Korean games can compete worldwide. The plan is to let people in all parts of a game—designers, artists, and planners—use the same flexible hours that programmers already have. This will be decided together with the Labor Ministry. The hope is to make game production smoother and faster. Games are a big part of Korea’s export. They bring in more than 60% of the country’s content money. Because of that, the government says it must help the industry grow by giving more support. Another topic was fighting illegal game servers. The time it takes to block these sites has gone from 15 days to just 5 days.
In the future, a new automated system could cut that time down to one day. Police and other agencies will also work together with internet providers and CDN companies to protect copyrights. The ministry is also looking at tax help for game makers. A proposal was sent to the Finance Ministry so that local companies can spend less on making games and feel encouraged to invest. The discussion will keep going as the 2027 budget is being prepared. During the meeting, experts from businesses and universities shared their views. People like Bae Soo‑jung from LoadComplete and Yoo Seung‑hyun from Wonder Potion were there. They all want policies that will bring the Korean game industry back to life. The goal is clear: give game makers flexible work hours, protect their creations, and make it cheaper to build new games. With these changes, Korea hopes its game industry will stay strong and grow even more.

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