Domestic companies posted a record $186 million in overseas sales during the nation’s largest game show G-STAR 2013 held from Nov. 14 to 17 in Busan, according to Korea Internet & Digital Entertainment Association on Wednesday.

K-IDEA said sales rose 25.4 percent from last year’s $148 million, largely due to the expanded space for business to business consulting and the increased number of overseas buyers, 1,397 up from last year’s 840.

“The popularity of the Korean game industry among foreign buyers and investors has seen steady growth recently,” a K-IDEA official said. This seems partly due to the different pace of developing new games. “While overseas developers tend to keep updating once they release a new title, Korean companies make new games much faster. Because of this difference, many of them seem interested in supplying Korean games to their countries.”

Geographical factors have also played roles. A fair number of buyers and investors came from Asian countries, especially from China. “It seems more Chinese buyers come to G-STAR than to the Tokyo Game Show. While the Japanese game industry is more focused on console games, more online or mobile games are popular in the Chinese market as in Korea,” the official added.

The total number of visitors to business-to-consumer pavilions at G-STAR 2013 reached 188,700, up 1,559 from the previous event.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)