Up to 1 Billion Won in Support. Four Cities and Counties Challenge to Attract Gyeonggi Dedicated Esports Arena

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Hong Sung-gil] As Gyeonggi Province moves to nurture esports, which is attracting attention as a future growth engine, by constructing a dedicated arena, it has been revealed that four cities—Ansan, Yongin, Seongnam, and Bucheon—have submitted final applications for the facility.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 2nd, the province plans to construct one "Gyeonggi Dedicated Esports Arena" with a capacity of 300 seats or more to build esports infrastructure. From January through July 1st, the province conducted an open recruitment for site selection among all 31 cities and counties.

Accordingly, the province organized an evaluation committee consisting of private and public sector experts to ensure fair assessment, and plans to select one city as the candidate site by July 20th following on-site inspections and written and presentation evaluations.

Meanwhile, the province announced in October of last year the "Gyeonggi Province Esports Industry Promotion Plan," which involves investing a total of 13.4 billion won over four years from 2019, including ▲infrastructure construction for esports industry ecosystem development (10 billion won over four years) ▲esports culture promotion and expansion of the base (2.08 billion won over four years) ▲talent development system construction for players and related industry workers (1.32 billion won over four years).

A province official said, "While the domestic game industry and esports industry face stagnation due to the WHO's classification of gaming disorder and aggressive investment from the United States and China, we will continue to promote esports support projects to enhance Korea's status as the esports pioneer nation and develop the game industry."