South Korean esports players compete in a match during the Esports Championships East Asia in Seoul in 2021.
Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
South Korean esports players compete in a match during the Esports Championships East Asia in Seoul in 2021.
It’s the country that brought you your favorite boy band, drama series, fermented food, and more. Now, one industry leader wants to put the spotlight on video games.
Who is she? Jeonghee “JJ” Jin is the CEO of Pearl Abyss America, part of the South Korean video game developer Pearl Abyss.
What’s the big deal? Despite having a rich culture to fall back on, Jin says many Korean game developers have focused on stories and plotlines that have largely focused on Western culture. She thinks it’s time to stray from that.
Want to hear about a different kind of game? Listen to Consider This on how a Jeopardy! champ’s disappearance from the show left fans mystified for decades.
What’s she saying? Jin spoke with NPR’s Ailsa Chang.
On where Jin want to take their new stories:
We are now trying to create this new region in Black Desert that’s all from Korea. So Korean landscapes, Korean culture, Korean housing and all dresses and everything, from the Joseon dynasty, a very famous kingdom in old Korea, and also a lot of Korean folk tales.
On including the Korean perspective after the success of other cultural exports:
I think it’s really similar to other content businesses: K-pop, K-drama, K-movies. I think not only K-drama, I think there are probably more nationalities in content business.
I really love seeing that trend. And nowadays, I think the young generation is really interested in experiencing something unique and a little different from what they already know.
So, what now?
This content was originally published here.
