Did you know that the South Korean government actively supports its indies?

Do you think of mobile games when you think of South Korean game development? Although South Korea is best known for exports like Blade & Soul, the Big Indie Forty project is testament to the slow shift of the Korean gaming industry’s focus.

The Big Indie Forty is a year-long venture between the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) and localization company, Latis Global, that aims to help small and medium enterprises compete with larger businesses by giving them grants and loans.

We spoke to Latis Global’s public relations coordinator Curtis File, who told us that the ten-year-old South Korean company offers game localization for the Korean market.

A screenshot of one of the Big Indie Forty games, Astro Wings.

Apart from having brought World of Warcraft, FIFA, and Assassin’s Creed to the local South Korean market, Latis Global also helps games get out. Some of the games it has localized for an international audience include Continent of the Ninth and Archeage. There’s no surprise it won the bid last year to become partners with KOCCA on the Big Indie Forty.

(See: Knights N Squires review: breathing new life into a tired genre)

According to File, the Big Indie Forty gives each of the 40 qualified games a free localization package as well as out-of-country marketing assistance. File himself reached out to us regarding a game that we hope to review soon, one Mandrake Girls – Garden of Secret from developer Owlogue.

The Big Indie Forty team also went down to the recent Game Developers Conference 2014 (GDC 2014) with its first round of games. The 40 games onboard the project were selected through four different rounds.

File said that the games have had a “really great” reception so far. A couple of games got publishing deals from GDC 2014 while a few other developers are in talks with different publishers.

Latis Global PR manager Daniel Seo talking about KOCCA games in a pitch session at GDC 2014.

“People have responded super well to the project,” File said. “They really like what we’re doing.”