Pearl Abyss Chairman Dae-il Kim has been nominated for a government award at the '2026 Korea Content Awards'. On September 11, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) unveiled 30 candidates (including organizations), including six individuals for the Game Industry Development Merit, and began gathering public feedback.
Chairman Kim's summary of achievements highlighted developing 'Black Desert' and 'Crimson Desert' using an in-house proprietary engine, generating approximately 3 trillion won in revenue and boosting the export competitiveness of K-games. Pearl Abyss launched 'Crimson Desert' in March and will release its first DLC on October 16.
The public verification will run for 18 days from September 11 to September 28. In accordance with the '2026 Government Awards Operational Guidelines', MCST released the candidates on the MCST website and the Sanghoon Portal to accept public feedback. The planned award categories include Orders of Merit, Presidential Commendations, and Prime Minister Commendations, though specific award tiers for individual candidates were omitted from this release. Feedback can be submitted via email (da0802@korea.kr) to the Cultural Export and Trade Division.
The Game Industry Development Merit is divided into two categories: Game Industry Development and Game Culture Promotion. In the Game Industry Development category, along with Chairman Kim, 111% CEO Kang-an Kim and Netmarble Neo Director Sung-keon Jin were nominated.
CEO Kim's achievements listed achieving 888.4 billion won in total revenue and 553.3 billion won in exports, as well as discovering development studios and investing in indie games. Director Jin was recognized for taking a webtoon-based game to global success and building action systems. Director Jin oversaw the development of 'Solo Leveling: Arise' at Netmarble Neo.
All three candidates in the Game Culture Promotion category are e-sports figures. Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) Chairman Young-man Kim was recognized for his career spanning over 20 years dedicated to improving public perception of e-sports and the gaming industry, having served as the 1st, 2nd, 11th, and 12th KeSPA Chairman as well as Chairman of the Korea Association of Game Industry (K-GAMES).
DRX's Jae-min "Knee" Bae was nominated for expanding the foundation of Korean e-sports while competing as an Asian Games national team player. He is an active player selected as a national team member for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Caster Yong-jun Jeon was recognized for his career broadcasting Starleague and LCK since the dawn of e-sports.
Gaming figures were also nominated for the Overseas Expansion Merit. Smilegate Director Byeong-ho Yeo was named for leading the global expansion of domestic games for 20 years and driving their adoption as official events in international e-sports tournaments.
The Overseas Expansion Merit also includes 12 nominees (including organizations), such as OD Company CEO Chun-soo Shin, actor Nam-seon Eo (Ryu Soo-young) of KX Entertainment, and Netflix Services Korea Director Jin-hae Ye. The Broadcasting and Video Industry Development Merit features 12 writers and directors across drama, documentary/culture, and variety show sectors.
