[K-Game Triple Whammy]②Repeatedly Delayed Launches... Development Golden Time Lost to 52-Hour Workweek

Discretionary Work System for Game Developers Stalled for 8 Years
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: "We Are Communicating Industry Demands to the Ministry of Employment and Labor"

"When companies say, 'We are delaying the launch to improve the game's quality,' working conditions such as the 52-hour workweek system also play a role. Still, in terms of keeping up with trends or building developers' personal portfolios, it's better if games are released on time."

The gaming industry has been requesting more flexibility from the government regarding the 52-hour workweek system for eight years now, but there has been no progress. Meanwhile, in China, large-scale teams work around the clock, churning out high-quality games. As the weakening of the Korean gaming industry's competitiveness becomes reality, calls for institutional improvements are growing louder.

According to government and industry sources on June 26, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is currently discussing with the Ministry of Employment and Labor how to expand the scope of the discretionary work system for game development positions. This comes in response to industry concerns that the current flexible work system alone is insufficient to meet game release schedules and respond to various variables since the introduction of the 52-hour workweek.

According to the Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, the discretionary work system is limited to "work involving the design or analysis of information processing systems." In the gaming industry, this applies only to a handful of key programmers. While the Ministry of Employment and Labor clarified through its guidelines that "research and development of new products or technologies" includes game software development, this, too, is limited to the specific job category of programmers.

As a result, game companies are demanding that, instead of ambiguous legal language focused on manufacturing, the law should clearly define each job category's responsibilities. They argue that discretionary work should be determined by evaluating each job's suitability and through agreement between management and employees. Since game development involves not only programmers but also planners, graphic designers, and other specialists, the industry maintains that improvements must reflect field realities and cover the entire sector.

Additionally, they emphasized that work hour restrictions are incompatible with the increasingly short life cycles of popular games. They especially pointed out the difficulty of predicting trends several years in advance and starting development accordingly. An industry source explained, "Unless you're trying to make the game you want regardless of trends, like in Japan, you can't ignore competition with China. Many of the Korean-themed games currently in development were conceived years ago, and we just hope the K-content trend lasts long enough."

On the other hand, some—including game industry unions—have expressed concern that expanding the discretionary work system could revive the intense "crunch mode" work culture. They warn that this is a risky move that could repeat the industry's notorious history of overwork and even deaths from overwork. In response, a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "The discretionary work system is limited by necessity, so there is no issue," adding, "We are communicating industry demands and recommendations for guideline changes and even amendments to the enforcement decree to the Ministry of Employment and Labor."

According to the "2025 Survey on Working Conditions of Game Industry Employees" published earlier by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, the average weekly working hours in the gaming industry were 42.9 hours, down slightly from 44.4 hours the previous year. However, the industry's average unofficial work hours increased by 3.5 hours year-on-year to 9.2 hours per week. Causes cited for this "shadow work" include handling remote technical issues or global launches after official working hours.

An industry source noted, "Because game servers run 24 hours a day, we need to respond in real time when issues arise. Instead of rigid work hours, we need a discretionary work system that allows us to adjust our schedules and be rewarded based on performance."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.