The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is initiating a study to establish a master plan for creating the "Korea Game Museum" (tentative title). The research aims to review the museum's necessity, economic feasibility, and architectural planning to establish standards applicable to future design, construction, and operation phases.
The game museum project was included as a new initiative in the game industry support plan announced by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) in January this year. The study covers six areas: basic concept, artifact survey outline, site and facility condition review standards, architectural planning, construction cost and feasibility analysis, and a phased implementation roadmap. The executing organization must analyze domestic and international game and digital culture museum cases to define operational directions across exhibition, education, experience, research, collection storage, and archiving functions.
The site and operating entity have not yet been determined. While KOCCA stated that "the target facility will be finalized through a separate process," it required that space conversion methods and structural/safety evaluation standards be developed under the premise of repurposing existing buildings.
This study represents the first phase. The second phase research plan in 2027 will cover exhibit design plans for each gallery, operational revenue models, artifact classification systems, and the construction of an integrated database.
This is not the first time the government has pursued research on a game museum. In November 2020, MCST and KOCCA published a report titled "Study on Establishing the Basic Direction for the Construction of the Game Culture Museum," conducted with a national budget of 99.8 million won. However, that report contained several factual errors. KOCCA's own evaluation noted that "concrete plans regarding the collection, classification, and digital archiving of game materials were lacking."
Meanwhile, game museums in Korea have so far been operated by private gaming companies. Nexon opened the "Nexon Computer Museum" in Jeju in July 2013 and reopened it as "Nexon Museum" in May 2026. Formerly focused on the history of computer technology, the exhibition was reorganized into an experiential space for Nexon's 30-year legacy of gaming IPs. The "Netmarble Game Museum," opened by the Netmarble Cultural Foundation in March 2025 at Netmarble's headquarters in Guro, Seoul, became the first Korean game museum to be registered as a "Category 1 Specialized Museum" in April 2026. A government-established game museum does not yet exist.
