Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has announced it intends to boldly grow the country's console market, with significant government investment through 2028, in a bid to revitalise the nation's burgeoning games industry. Shift Up's success with Stellar Blade is no doubt part of the reason for this console push, but we should give due credit to Neowiz. Lies of P made a splash and was excellent in its own right, walking so that Stelly could run.
As reported by Yonhap News Agency (thanks, Gamesindustry.biz), console gamers currently comprise 28% of the global gaming market, but Korea's share of that pie is just 1.5%, according to the ministry. For comparison, around 40% of North American and European gamers play on console.
Despite that, Korean players spent 22.2 trillion won ($16.2 billion) on video games last year, making the nation the fourth-largest gaming market in the world. The ministry says it will work with Korean developers and companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to develop new console titles over the next five years, in addition to supporting local independent studios.