A Study on the Correlation Analysis between Investment Attraction and Employment Increase in Game Startups

Background/Objectives: Investment in domestic game startups has been declining and its research is lacking. This study aims to provide evidence to revitalize investment in game startups for job creation by verifying the correlation between investment and employment in game startups. Methods/Statistical analysis: Through previous studies, investment types are defined in the following five categories: equity acquisition, equity-linked notes acquisition, project financing, club deals, and follow-up investment. Data by type are secured and cases by year are classified. Additionally, data of case companies are analyzed through indicators that verified the employment effect in previous studies. Findings: All of the case companies showed an increase in employment, and they used an average of 77.2% of operating costs on employment. The employment index figure of game startups “2.31 people/100 million KRW” is 2.69 times higher than the overall average of “0.86 people/100 million KRW” in the domestic industry, and is more than twice higher than “1.03 people/100 million” in Info-Communications and Broadcasting Services to which the gaming industry belongs. This shows that the gaming industry has a higher employment inducement effect than other industries.