Yoshida Asks Korean Indie Devs for English and Controller Support at BIC 2026
Yoshida, who introduces developers to publishers, said Korean indie games built for keyboard and Korean only are impossible for publishers to evaluate, making localization and controller support the gate to the global market.
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
At BIC Festival 2026 in Busan, former SIE head Shuhei Yoshida walked the floor with a list of about 30 titles, having played 15 demos before arriving. He named Reverie and World War V as favorites, and made two requests to Korean developers: add controller support and English versions, since publishers cannot evaluate games without them.
BIC 2026 opened on August 14 with more than 180 works from 41 countries and regions, a record for the event. Yoshida said the floor felt different this year: booths were color-coded by development stage, from DEMO to RELEASED, and many very early teams exhibited, which he said brought back a good indie feel that was missing last year.
His two requests to Korean developers were pointed. Many action games lack controller support because of the PC-centric culture, and a number of titles are Korean only with no English at all. He cited Crimson Pandemic, a demo he recommended for the stage, which he had to read line by line with a phone translator. Even if a game looks interesting, he said, a publisher cannot evaluate it. He plans to send the pitch deck and playable build of 7Trials to a publisher he knows.
- Reverie: a puzzle that surprises you when solved
- World War V: 2D pixel art that shifts to 3D voxel
- Where is my red ball: new demo of last year's favorite
- Master of Piece: progress toward version 1.0
- Crabmeat: catching crabs in Antarctica to pay debts
- Hermit Computer: sneaking into North Korea to photograph old computer files
- Crimson Pandemic: Korean and keyboard only, recommended for the stage
- 7Trials: roguelike action he plans to connect with a publisher
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.