Game Industry Promotion Act
Since 23 October 2025, certain foreign game distributors and game providers without a Korean address or place of business must designate a Korean domestic representative in writing for specified regulatory reporting and game-information display duties.
Who may be affected?
Applicability depends on three questions: whether the foreign company conducts a game distribution or game-providing business in Korea, whether it lacks an address or place of business in Korea, and whether it meets at least one threshold prescribed by the Enforcement Decree.
These are statutory business classifications. They depend on the company’s actual role in supplying or making a game available, not only on whether the company describes itself as a developer, publisher, platform or app business.
A company that only develops a game but does not distribute or provide it may fall outside these classifications. MCST guidance also distinguishes a general open online marketplace that merely enables third-party transactions from a business that directly imports, supplies or provides games. Hybrid business models should be reviewed according to the company’s role for each title and platform.
The revenue test refers to worldwide total revenue for the preceding business year, not only Korean revenue or game-business revenue. Foreign-currency revenue is converted into Korean won using the preceding year’s average exchange rate. For the mobile-installation test, only Korean downloads are counted; downloads of the same game across multiple app marketplaces are combined, and the previous year’s total downloads are divided by 365 regardless of the game’s launch or termination date. The presence of probability-based items is not itself a domestic-representative threshold.
The appointed representative must have an address or place of business in Korea. The current Article 31-2 does not expressly require appointment of an affiliated Korean company merely because one exists. However, the activities of a Korean branch, office, affiliate or other local operation may affect whether the foreign company itself is considered to have a Korean place of business and should be reviewed before appointment.
A qualifying foreign game business that fails to designate a domestic representative may be subject to an administrative fine of up to KRW 20 million. Separate enforcement consequences may apply to failures involving required reports or game-information displays.
Objective scope matrix
Article 31-2 assigns two categories of statutory functions to the domestic representative. The precise service scope, approval route and exclusions are confirmed in the signed engagement.
01 · Statutory functions
02 · Proposed Korea Agent Direct scope
03 · Optional support
04 · Foreign company
The applicable display requirements depend on the company’s role, the type of game and how the game is distributed or provided in Korea. They may include the business operator’s name, the game rating and game-content information. For games containing probability-based items, separate rules may require the item types and supply probabilities to be displayed in prescribed locations, including within the game and on relevant websites, advertisements or promotional materials. Certain designated game products may also be subject to operational-information display requirements. The foreign company remains responsible for identifying the requirements applicable to each game and for the accuracy and technical implementation of all displayed information.
Appointment and operation
The appointment must be made in writing. The foreign company’s applicable terms and conditions must state the representative’s required identity and contact details, and the representative must maintain an effective means of communication with the company.
Article 31-2 expressly requires written designation and disclosure of representative details in the applicable terms. MCST’s official guide additionally recommends notifying GRAC without delay when a representative is newly designated or redesignated, or when the representative’s address, telephone number or email changes.
Do not send corporate records, credentials, identity documents, authority evidence, unpublished game data or personal information through the public form. A separately approved secure exchange method is arranged after initial contact.
Applicable law and official sources
Relevant provisions: Articles 2, 31, 31-2, 33 and 48; Enforcement Decree Articles 18-3 and 23
Authority: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST); GRAC performs designated administrative and compliance-verification functions
Regulatory information last verified: 2026-07-22 Primary Korean source text controls.
Frequently asked questions
No. The foreign company must conduct a game distribution or game-providing business, lack its own Korean address or place of business, and meet at least one of the three Enforcement Decree triggers.
No. The decree and MCST guidance refer to worldwide total revenue for the previous business year. The calculation is not limited to revenue earned in Korea or revenue from the game business. Foreign-currency amounts are converted using the preceding year’s average exchange rate.
MCST guidance counts Korean downloads of the same game across all app marketplaces during the previous calendar year, combines those downloads, and divides the total by 365. The calculation applies regardless of when during that year the game was launched or discontinued.
Yes. The mobile-installation trigger is specific to installations on mobile telecommunications devices sold in Korea, but a PC, online or console game business may still be covered through the total-revenue trigger or an MCST reporting-order trigger.
No. Probability-based items can create important Article 33 display duties, but their presence is not one of the three domestic-representative thresholds.
No. MCST guidance distinguishes a general open marketplace that merely enables third-party transactions from a business that directly imports, owns or manages rights to, supplies or provides games. The platform’s actual contractual and operational role must be reviewed.
No. Article 31-2 assigns reporting and display functions. Ordinary compensation, refund, account, gameplay and customer-service decisions remain with the foreign company unless a separate written service scope expressly provides otherwise.
No. The publisher or provider remains responsible for the calculation, accuracy and technical implementation of probability rates. Korea Agent Direct may coordinate the display of client-supplied and client-approved information within the agreed representative scope.
Preliminary review
Share basic company information. Agent Direct will use it for a preliminary non-legal screening and to discuss an appropriate next step.
Do not submit credentials, identity documents, breach details, personal-data requests, confidential evidence or files through this form.
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