I. INTRODUCTION
On October 22, 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (the “MCST”) amended Article 31-2 of the Game Industry Promotion Act (the “GIPA”) to newly impose an obligation on foreign gaming companies of certain scale to designate a domestic (Korean) agent. As a follow-up measure, in April 2025, the MCST announced the (draft) Enforcement Decree setting forth the criteria for foreign gaming companies that are to be subject to the domestic agent designation requirement, as delegated by the GIPA. And, most recently, in July 2025, the MCST announced a revised (draft) Enforcement Decree to expand the scope of foreign gaming companies subject to the domestic agent designation.
II. MAIN POINTS OF REVISED CRITERIA
Originally, foreign game business operators meeting the following criteria were subject to the domestic agent designation requirement:
(1) A person or entity engaged in game distributing business or game providing business without an address or place of business in Korea; and
(2) Such person or entity additionally satisfies any one of the following criteria:
(i) Revenue for the preceding year (or during the previous fiscal year, in case of a corporation) was at least KRW 1 trillion;
(ii) Distributes or provides game products with an average number of at least 100,000 domestic users for the three months immediately preceding the end of the previous year; or
(iii) Has been deemed by the MCST as needing to designate a domestic agent due to any actual or likely incident or accident causing significant damage to game users.
The MCST subsequently revised the user-based criterion under (ii) from “a person or entity that distributes or provides game products with an average number of at least 100,000 domestic users for the three months immediately preceding the end of the previous year,” to: “in the case of game products operating on mobile communications devices, a person or entity that distributes or provides a game product which has been newly installed on users’ mobile communications devices at a daily average of least 1,000 times in the previous year.”
Accordingly, with respect to the criteria based on either the revenue or the users, for PC or console games, only a person or entity meeting the KRW 1 trillion revenue threshold will effectively be required to designate a domestic agent. For mobile games, a person or entity meeting either the revenue threshold or the new installation threshold will be required to designate a domestic agent.
III. IMPLICATIONS
The revised GIPA governing the domestic agent system for foreign gaming companies takes effect on October 23, 2025. Following its initial announcement of the draft Enforcement Decree, the MCST appears to have tightened the user-based criterion to reflect the opinions from various sectors calling for the expansion of the scope of the business entities that are subject to the domestic agent designation requirement.
Currently, the domestic agent’s responsibilities include: (i) post-management reporting on orderly distribution of game products, prevention of speculative activities in the use of games, and prohibition of speculative elements in games, in accordance with Article 31 (2) of the GIPA; and (ii) representation in matters related to fulfilling labeling obligations, such as the disclosure of probability-type item information, in accordance with Article 33 of the GIPA.
The domestic agent system aims to enhance the protection of rights for domestic game users. The MCST may also introduce further legislation on the roles of domestic agents in response to public opinion that emphasizes the need for the system’s effectiveness.
In order to comply with the amended GIPA, foreign companies need to assess whether they meet the criteria for mandatory domestic agent desingation and appoint a domestic agent, in addition to continuously monitoring legislative developments related to such amendments.
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Bae, Kim & Lee LLC has provided extensive advisory and litigation services in the gaming sector and possesses requisite expertise in this field. In addition to providing general advisory services in relation to the newly imposed obligation to designate a domestic agent for foreign game-related business operators in accordance with the amended GIPA, based on our in-depth experience and know-how accumulated over years of serving as domestic representatives under the Personal Information Protection Act and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, our firm is well-equipped to directly serve as your designated domestic agent. Please contact us if you have any questions.
[Korean version]
