Busan game companies are rapidly advancing their entry into the European market through Serbia.
Following last year's efforts, Busan firms conducted 41 business consultations and signed 8 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to expand their international collaboration network.
The city of Busan and the Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency announced that they operated the '2026 Korea-Serbia Market Exploration Team' in Belgrade, Serbia, from September 28 to October 1.
Five Busan game companies participated in this market exploration, including B&D Angle, Visual Dart, C-Play, Urban Wolf Games, and Proto Factory.
The agency determined that achieving results from a one-time visit would be difficult, so they have maintained a network with Serbia for the second consecutive year. This exchange began when Serbian representatives expressed interest in the gaming and content sectors during Busan's bid for the 2030 World Expo.
Last year, a total of 10 game and IT companies participated, conducting business consultations with local institutions and companies. This year, the focus was on the gaming industry, expanding contact targets to include international game developers and publishers in conjunction with a B2B event.
Participants attended the international gaming industry event 'DevGAMM FTW! 2026' held in Belgrade from September 29 to 30, where they showcased games and conducted business consultations.
According to official statistics from DevGAMM, the event attracted 730 participants from 336 companies across 54 countries, representing various sectors including game development, game art, audio, publishing, co-development, marketing, and development tools.
Through the business matching platform 'MeetToMatch,' over 700 business meetings were held during the event, with the five Busan companies securing 41 consultations and signing 8 MOUs.
Notably, this year saw multiple agreements with publishing companies responsible for distributing and servicing overseas games. The agency is optimistic that follow-up discussions with these companies could lead to actual publishing contracts or co-development opportunities.
A session was also held to showcase the production capabilities of Busan game companies. Lee Jae-yoon, CEO of Visual Dart, was selected as a speaker at the DevGAMM conference, presenting on 'From Korea to the World Through Game Art.' He shared insights from his experience in Korean game art production and global project execution.
After the event, participating companies visited global and local game firms based in Serbia, including Wargaming, Sperasoft, Altfuture, and Mad Head Games. They explored each company's development environment and business strategies, discussing potential collaborations in co-development, publishing, game art, and technology.
Last year, the city and the agency formed a market exploration team with 10 Busan game and IT companies, resulting in 42 business consultations and 13 MOUs in Serbia. Combining this year's results, the total over two years stands at 83 consultations and 21 MOUs.
Some agreements signed last year have already led to actual contracts and exports.
AI content company Ronpic, which participated in last year's market exploration team, signed a distribution agreement with a local Serbian company on August 26 after follow-up discussions, resulting in actual exports.
However, Ronpic is not a game company but an AI content firm that achieved this success as part of the joint game and IT market exploration team last year.
An agency official stated, "We are regularly checking the follow-up progress of last year's participating companies. While game companies have not yet achieved actual exports, they are maintaining contact with local firms and keeping their networks active."
This year's market exploration team also expanded cooperation with local industry organizations. Participating companies engaged with Serbia Creates, the Serbian Game Association (SGA), the Serbian IT Association (SITA), and the Korea-Serbia Digital Government Cooperation Center (NIA) to discuss business linkages, partner discovery, and joint overseas expansion strategies.
Kim Jong-cheol, head of the Busan Information Industry Promotion Agency, emphasized, "Entering overseas markets is not just about consultations; it is crucial to build trust with local partners and translate that into actual business. The exchanges between Busan and Serbia are leading to concrete outcomes such as contracts and exports, and we aim to expand the global collaboration points of Busan game companies beyond the Balkans into Europe based on the networks established in Serbia."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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