The workforce of gaming companies from South Korea is steadily aging
In major South Korean gaming companies, the number of young employees is decreasing, reports the local magazine ChosunBiz.
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Journalists reached this conclusion after reviewing official annual reports. It was found that in all the companies studied, as of the end of 2025, the number of employees under 30 years old did not exceed one-fifth of the workforce, although a couple of years ago, the numbers were slightly higher.
Below is the proportion of employees under 30 years old in specific companies:
- Com2uS: in 2023 — 26.1%, in 2025 — 20.9%;
- Wemade: in 2023 — 22.1%, in 2025 — 19.1%;
- KRAFTON: in 2023 — 19%, in 2025 — 16.8%;
- Kakao Games: in 2023 — 21%, in 2025 — 14.1%;
- Netmarble: in 2023 — 20.1%, in 2025 — 13%;
- Neowiz: in 2023 — 19.7%, in 2025 — 10.5%;
- NCSOFT: in 2023 — 13.2%, in 2025 — 7.8%.
At the same time, in almost all of the aforementioned companies, the proportion of employees over 50 years old increased — on average, to 5-6%. The only exception was Wemade, where it decreased from 5.1% to 4.7% over two years. Often, these are senior management executives, most of whom are over 50 years old.
Whether this is related to a possible reduction in the hiring of entry-level specialists or something else is not specified in the ChosunBiz article, but the publication noted another interesting detail. According to their observations, the drawn-out "generation shift" among developers has led to young South Korean gamers more frequently playing games from foreign studios rather than domestic projects. This is because local teams prefer to create MMORPGs that have long been established in the country, which are not particularly appealing to the youth.