Hi there,
Similar to recent posts, this is an update of a popular post back in Dec 2016 “key facts about South Korea Mobile Game”. I use the latest information from eMarketer, NewZoo, App Annie, AppsFlyer and other sources.
This post is part of the series about South Korea that I have been writing in 2019. You can find other posts here:
South Korea subscription Video on demand (SVOD): key facts and trends
10 key facts about South Korea e-commerce
South Korea digital marketing landscape (updated 2019)
1. South Korea ranks number 4th in the world in terms of Mobile Game revenue (and expected to continue keeping that position)
![south korea mobile game revenue forecast to 2022](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/south-korea-mobile-game-revenue-forecast-to-2022.jpg)
2. Gamer penetration (of the total population) in South Korea is comparable with the rest of the top 4 markets
![game population and penetration in south korea china japan us taiwan 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/game-population-and-penetration-in-south-korea-china-japan-us-taiwan-2018.png)
China gamer penetration is lower but given the scale of the market, this is totally understandable.
3. South Korea gamers are slightly skewed towards male and younger age group
![mobile gamer in south korea demographics 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mobile-gamer-in-south-korea-demographics-2018-1.jpg)
4. Two out of 5 internet users in South Korea watch gaming video content (which is lesser than China, the US and Taiwan)
![Percentage of online population watches gaming video content in south korea china japan us taiwan 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Percentage-of-online-population-watches-gaming-video-content-in-south-korea-china-japan-us-taiwan-2018.png)
5. Average revenue per paying gamers in South Korea is amongst the highest in the world
![average revenue per user and per mobile gamer in japan south korea china us taiwan 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/average-revenue-per-user-and-per-mobile-gamer-in-japan-2018.jpg)
6. Given the revenue per paid gamer, the cost per game app install (CPI) in South Korea is more advantageous than CPI in the US and Taiwan
![mobile game app cost per install in japan china south korea us and taiwan oct 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/mobile-game-app-cost-per-install-in-japan-china-south-korea-us-and-taiwan-oct-2018.png)
7. The retention rate for non organic gamers in South Korea is slightly smaller than the leaders Japan and Australia
![percentage of paying users after 90 days for non organic acquisition in japan australia south korea us china oct 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/percentage-of-paying-users-after-90-days-for-non-organic-acquisition-in-japan-and-other-countries-oct-2018.png)
The same trend is seen for casual game
![percentage of paying users after 90 days for casual games for non organic acquisition in japan south korea us australia oct 2018](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/percentage-of-paying-users-after-90-days-for-casual-games-for-non-organic-acquisition-in-japan-and-other-countries-oct-2018.png)
8. 90% of the top 10 grossing games in South Korea are Role Playing games, which shows the continued strength of the genre
![top grossing games in south korea on google play jan 2019](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/top-grossing-games-in-south-korea-on-google-play-jan-2019.png)
we observe a similar trend on Apple store as below
![top grossing games in south korea on ios jan 2019](https://www.chandlernguyen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/top-grossing-games-in-south-korea-on-ios-jan-2019.png)
That’s all from me.
Cheers,
Chandler