BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN=Yonhap News) South Korea's largest computing game expo kicked off in Busan Thursday featuring a range of mobile games with virtual reality technology taking the center stage.

A total of 653 game developers and distributors from 35 countries took part in the four-day G-Star Global Game Exhibition under the theme of the "play to the next step."

G-Star, South Korea's largest game exhibition, opens in Busan on Nov. 17, 2016. (Yonhap) G-Star, South Korea's largest game exhibition, opens in Busan on Nov. 17, 2016. (Yonhap)

The list of attendees includes South Korean game firms Nexon and Netmarble Games as well as Sony Interactive Entertainment and Taiwanese consumer electronics maker HTC.

Choi Kwan-ho, head of the exhibition's organizing committee, said the fair drew "a tremendous amount of interest from many companies, and the event will be held on the largest scale ever in its history."

Reflecting the gaming industry's focus on virtual reality technology, Choi and Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo appeared at the opening ceremony by way of virtual reality headsets.

A Chinese game developer, Longtu Korea, sponsored the show as the first foreign company that signed an official sponsorship with the annual game fair.

Nexon unveiled 35 new games including 16 mobile games, two games for personal computers which were developed by Nexon, and 17 games published by the company.

Among the new games are a so-called multiplayer online battle area (MOBA) game "Hyper Universe" and a new edition of "Need For Speed," dubbed "Edge."

HTC unveiled a plan to sell its Vive virtual reality headset in South Korea.

The price of the Vive for the Korean market is set at 1.25 million won (US$1,063).

Sony Interactive Entertainment's Korean unit plans to step up its push to advertise the PlayStation VR, a video game console with virtual reality features.

In a statement, the exhibition's organizing committee said the G-Star exhibition "has generated more than US$200 million of game business for four days every year."

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