Provided by Korea Creative Content Agency

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (President Kim Yun-ji, hereinafter KOCCA) participated in 'Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026' (BIC Festival 2026, hereinafter BIC 2026), held from August 14 to 16 at BEXCO Exhibition Center 1 in Busan, to showcase K-indie games across various genres.

'BIC 2026' is South Korea's largest indie game festival, held annually in Busan since 2015, and KOCCA joined as a platinum sponsor this year following last year. KOCCA focused on promoting the global competitiveness of K-indie games by actively supporting game exhibitions and business matching for participating companies. Together with Pearl Abyss—a lead company in the '2026 Korea Indie Game Dev Camp'—and the Game Institute, KOCCA set up exhibition spaces and introduced the achievements of nurturing future gaming talent.

◆ Demonstrating 5 Outstanding K-Indie Games at Open Joint Pavilion... Supporting Exhibition and Business Consultations

KOCCA operated the open joint pavilion '2026 Korea Indie Game Showcase in BIC' at BIC 2026, presenting five outstanding indie games selected through its Game Planning Support Project. The participating studios included ▲ Diving Studio ▲ Sun Games ▲ Odysseier ▲ Oblicon ▲ Project Moreum.

As a result of participating in this joint pavilion, achievements significantly exceeded the previous year's performance across both B2B and B2C sectors. The number of on-site feedback survey responses—a key metric for improving gameplay quality—surged to 772, up approximately 72.7% from 447 the previous year. Business consultations (Meet to Match) also recorded 24 cases in total, up about 50% from 16 the previous year. In particular, based on average performance per participating company, the number of visitors increased 73.5% from 132 to 229, and business matching consultations also increased about 77.8% from 2.7 to 4.8 cases.

At the joint pavilion, visitor participation was driven not only through game hands-on experiences, but also through a "stamp event" tied to adding games to Steam wishlists and writing reviews, as well as an SNS "Decorate the Astronaut" contest utilizing the brand's mascot "Astronaut" with visitor voting to promote the Korea Indie Game Showcase brand. In addition, close support was provided for one-on-one business consultations with domestic and international publishers and investors through the official business matching platform MeetToMatch, laying the foundation for participating companies' expansion overseas.

Participating companies responded positively to KOCCA's meticulous on-site operational support, such as translation services and merchandise production. An official from a participating developer expressed satisfaction, saying, "Thanks to the close operational support that allowed us to focus on game demonstrations and business consultations, we were able to run the event smoothly," adding, "The response to the provided merchandise was also great, drawing far more visitors to the booth than expected."

◆ Exhibiting 6 Companies from 'Korea Indie Game Dev Camp' with Pearl Abyss

KOCCA also showcased the achievements of developers participating in the '2026 Korea Indie Game Dev Camp' at this event. Korea Indie Game Dev Camp is a program that discovers promising indie games with creative ideas, grants development incentives, and provides step-by-step support including development training, expert guidance and consulting, and collaboration with lead companies.

In the exhibition space provided by Pearl Abyss, which participated as a lead company this year, six developers participating in Dev Camp showcased their games and introduced their development achievements to domestic and international players as well as industry officials. The participating studios included ▲ Hypertension ▲ Harbor Games ▲ Abnormal ▲ Shindosi ▲ Cesi Studio ▲ Dewpoint Games.

◆ Unveiling 6 Titles Developed by Game Institute Trainees... Assessing Practical Competencies via Expert Evaluation

At the Game Institute pavilion, six projects developed by trainees were unveiled. Trainees' works spanning various genres such as strategy, roguelike, puzzle, and action—including ▲ Draw A Sword: Gongbangrok ▲ BAROKE ▲ Who is VS ▲ ALICE IN BOARDLAND ▲ FACE THE FAITH ▲ YELLOWJACKET—received enthusiastic responses from visitors. Lee Eun-seok, a trainee in the Game Design Department of the Game Institute, expressed satisfaction, saying, "The major advantage of the Game Institute's education is being able to present projects developed during the course directly at exhibition sites, check user feedback, and improve the works," adding, "KOCCA's continuous support from development to exhibition and on-site feedback was immensely helpful in building practical experience."

KOCCA's Game Institute is a specialized educational institution that nurtures talent to lead the domestic gaming industry, providing practical curriculum covering all areas of development, including game design, art, and programming. Trainees undergo project-based collaborative processes similar to real development environments, leading the entire game development process from planning to release, thereby building job-ready practical competencies.

The event also operated test sessions involving industry experts and stakeholders, where trainees demonstrated games they developed and received expert evaluations and feedback on various elements, including game design structure, degree of completion, and user experience (UX). Through this, they had time to review the strengths and areas for improvement in their projects and flesh out future development strategies. Park Jun-hyuk, a trainee in the Game Programming Department of the Game Institute, stated, "Based on the on-site feedback, I was able to define concrete improvement directions for the game, such as UI and tutorials," adding, "Educational support like this from the Game Institute was a huge help in elevating the quality of the project."

Kim Seong-jun, Head of the Game & New Technology Division at KOCCA, said, "This year's 'BIC 2026' was a meaningful event where we could confirm in one place the unique potential of domestic indie game developers and the practical capabilities of future talent nurtured by the Game Institute," adding, "We will continue to strengthen tailored support across the entire lifecycle, from the initial discovery of indie games with novel ideas to building collaborative ecosystems and assisting overseas expansion."