Page 77 - Forbes - Asia (June 2018)

THE LIST

GAMING 35. LEE JOON-HO
$1.17 BILLION S
NAVER & NHN ENTERTAINMENT
AGE: 53
Playing for Pro t 36. KENNY PARK
$1.16 BILLION Ì
SIMONE ACCESSORY
aming has long been the AGE: 63
national obsession in
37. KOO BON-NEUNG
GSouth Korea, and now $1.15 BILLION
HEESUNG
there are six game developers
AGE: 69
among the country’s 50 richest.
38. SHIN DONG-JOO
All are billionaires, and one $1.12 BILLION
cracks the list for the irst time: LOTTE
AGE: 64
38-year-old Kim Dae-Il, who
joins at No. 42. 39. HONG SEOK-JOH
$1.1 BILLION T
Kim look his company, Pearl BGF RETAIL
Abyss, public last September, AGE: 65
riding the huge success of its 40. LEE SANG-HYUK
$1.08 BILLION
only title, Black Desert. It’s an YELLO MOBILE
action-packed role-playing game AGE: 47
that’s reaped more than $400 41. CHO HYUN-JOON
million in revenue since its 2015 $1.07 BILLION S
HYOSUNG
debut, 80% of that from over- AGE: 50
seas. He says he had dreamed of Kim Dae-Il is a newcomer to the list, ranked at No. 42. 42. KIM DAE-IL
becoming a gaming developer $1.05 BILLION Ì
since middle school. He dropped out of college and primitive, computer games. “Gaming was very PEARL ABYSS
AGE: 38
and later started the company with three friends. cheap and new entertainment,” he says.
43. MICHAEL KIM
He owns 37%, while his cofounders each own At the same time, the government responded $1.04 BILLION
between 3.7% and 5.3%. Christine Sun, who repre- to the crisis with a massive upgrade of the inter- MBK PARTNERS
AGE: 54
sents the company, attributes the game’s popularity net infrastructure, leading to an internet boom
to “the sophisticated character-customization tool and a lourishing gaming industry. “Competi- 44. KIM NAM-GOO
$1.02 BILLION 3
that no other game can compete with.” tion among enterprises spurred market growth,” KOREA INVESTMENT HOLDINGS
he other gamer billionaires built their for- says Seo Hyeon-Il, manager at the Korea Game AGE: 54
tunes in diferent sectors, each a pioneer with their Industry Association. 45. KOO BON-JOON
own stories. here’s No. 5 Kim Jung-Ju, or JJ, of Today gaming is a key part of the Korean $1 BILLION S
LG GROUP
Nexon in free online games; No. 9 Bang Jun-Hyuk Wave, as with K-Pop and K-Beauty. Produced by AGE: 66
of Netmarble in mobile games; and No. 24 Kim some 800 developers and publishers, computer 46. CHO YANG-RAI
Taek-Jin, or TJ, of NCSot in the online market. and online games amassed more than $11 billion $960 MILLION T
HANKOOK TIRE
here’s also No. 8 Kwon Hyuk-Bin of Smilegate in revenue last year in South Korea. And 48% of AGE: 80
and No. 35 Lee Joon-Ho of NHN Entertainment. the players are women, according to the survey.
47. BOM KIM
How did South Korea reach the point where “A large number of female game users are drawn $950 MILLION
just about everyone seems to be mesmerized to a game that stresses the importance of coop- COUPANG AGE: 39
by one game or another? Some 88.7% of people eration and interactions among players, more 48. LEE HAE-JIN
said they had played a game on their phone than double the preference for irst-person- $940 MILLION T
NAVER AGE: 50
recently, according to a survey last year by the shooter games,” states the report on the survey.
49. LEE SANG-ROK
Korea Creative Content Agency, an ofshoot of he lure of foreign sales is jacking up the $930 MILLION Ì
the government’s culture ministry. he “gaming competition among Korean game producers CARVER KOREA
AGE: 43
culture” began 20 years ago with the 1997–1998 and against foreign rivals. In 2016 export sales
economic crisis, according to the agency’s Lee Tae- totaled $3.3 billion. he country commands 50. LEE SANG-IL
$880 MILLION
Hee, who worked for gaming companies for ten 15.2% of the global market for online gaming, ILJIN AGE: 79
years. With the economy in the doldrums, young between irst-place China and third-place U.S.
SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%
people, many of them jobless, turned to the early, —Donald Kirk ÌNEW TO LIST 3RETURNEE

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