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60 million won per child: Gaming companies join Korea's birthrate battle

Published: 18 Feb. 2025, 17:52 Updated: 18 Feb. 2025, 18:54

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Game publisher Krafton's logo is displayed at Gamescom 2024 in August 2024. [YONHAP]

Krafton, Korea’s largest game publisher by market cap, will give up to 100 million won ($70,000) in child support to employees who have children.

The company said in a notice sent to workers that it will provide 60 million won as a lump sum to employees who have children during the time they work at Krafton and 5 million won annually for eight years, MTN reported Monday.

The new policy was reportedly spearheaded by Krafton founder and Chairman Chang Byung-gyu, who also headed the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution until 2022.

Krafton said it will outline the mechanism by which it will issue the incentives in February.

Krafton, known for games like PUBG: Battlegrounds and New State Mobile, posted 2.71 trillion won in revenue and 1.18 trillion won in operating profit last year, its best performance ever. Its operating profit was the highest among domestically listed gaming publishers last year. The firm currently employs around 1,665 people as full-time workers.

Private firm-led large spendings for child support for employees have suggested that the money is effective in raising the birthrate in their respective workplaces.

The Booyoung Group, which was the first domestic company to issue 100 million won per child to employees, is a noted example.

The construction and rental firm said it gave out a total of 2.8 billion won in incentives to employees who had children in 2024 in a ceremony on Feb. 5 at its headquarters in Jung District, central Seoul.

The company's employees gave birth to 28 children last year, 21.7 percent more than the annual average of 23 recorded from 2021 to 2023.

The group has so far given out a total of 9.8 billion won. The group gave 100 million won each to 70 employees who had babies from 2021 through 2023.

Booyoung Group President Lee Joong-keun told reporters following the ceremony that the company’s funding efforts were intended to “prime the pump” to spur additional births.

“I hope these actions will spread like a butterfly effect, much like the National Debt Repayment Movement and gold collection campaign, so that companies will voluntarily support childbirth,” Lee said.

BY KIM JI-HYE, KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]