BIC 2026 Opens with 332 Games from 42 Countries

Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026 opened on August 14 at BEXCO Exhibition Hall 1, Hall 2. This marks the 12th edition. The first day was Business Day, with the hall open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. exclusively to those holding business passes and conference registration. General admission opens for two days on the 15th and 16th, while the online festival already began earlier on August 7 and continues until the 28th. Inside the hall, 332 games from 42 countries had their screens lit.

This year's submissions totaled 856 from 57 countries, the highest ever. This represents a 44 percent increase from the previous year, with 332 games from 42 countries securing space in the hall. The event is co-hosted by Busan Metropolitan City, Busan Techno Park, and the BIC Organizing Committee. The slogan is 'BUFF YOUR INDIE SPIRIT'. Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo stated that this 12th-year festival serves as a foundational pillar for Busan's journey to becoming a global indie game hub.

전시장은 어떻게 짜였나

The exhibition was divided into four zones based on game completion stage: Demo, Beta, Upcoming Release, and Released, in that order. Builds that are still just taking shape and works already on sale shared the same hall under different labels. Booths were filled with density rather than scale. At the adjacent stations of Winners Games' 'Ultimate Tennis: Fire and Ice' and Easyfoxgames' 'Teaching My Little Sister to Drive', demo stations were continuously occupied. The latter is a game that directly translates the experience of sitting in the passenger seat teaching a novice driver.

There's more than just exhibition stands. The main road featured 'Behind Indie' displaying development processes and production stories, 'Developers' Wall' showcasing submitted game illustrations, and 'Inventory Indie' presenting photos of developer-prepared merchandise. At the 'Live Indie' studio, developers played their own games while sharing behind-the-scenes production stories. The main stage runs throughout all three days with scheduled programs, and OX quizzes and three-screen split quizzes run continuously. Visitors can try games and add them to their Steam wishlists to collect 'Buff Tracker' stickers for entry into a lucky draw. 'Inside Buff' for leaving guestbook messages, 'Buff Stepper' where visitors step on pads to raise a gauge, and 'BIC Photobox' for commemorative photos are also permanent zones.

At the center of the hall stood the Korea Creative Content Agency's Korea Indie Game Showcase booth. It features demo stations combined with a stamp event. The Busan Game Association opened 'Busan Soba' inside the exhibition hall. Buckwheat soba is 7,000 won, handmade dumplings 5,000 won, and a set combining both is 11,000 won. The fact that a local food popup is officially incorporated into the event structure directly demonstrates BIC's character.

하루에 일곱 세션, 부산 인디 웨이브 컨퍼런스

The centerpiece of Business Day was the Busan Indie Wave Conference. It opened at 10 a.m. with a keynote speech by Kim Yong-ha, Head of the IO Division at Nexon Games, titled 'How Games Become Worlds'. The following panel 'Indie Games and IP' was moderated by Professor Lee Jung-yeop of Soonchunhyang University, who also serves as BIC's Jury Subcommittee Chair, with Yoo Seung-hyun, CEO of Wonder Potion, and Kwon Jung-gyu, CEO of Sinkhole Studio, joining as panelists. At 12:30 p.m., Ariel Manzur, co-creator of the Godot Engine, presented 'Godot Engine: Open source in the videogame industry'. This meant that the creators of a royalty-free, open-source engine shared the same stage on the same day as those who purchase games.

The afternoon track moved to YouTube and publishers. At 1:30 p.m., Hwang Dae-yoon from YouTube Korea Content Partnerships presented 'YouTube's Vision for the Future of Gaming', followed at 2:10 p.m. by the panel 'YouTube Playables, New Opportunities for Indie Games' moderated by Kim So-yeon, YouTube Partnerships Acquisition Manager, featuring Lim Sung-joon, Publishing Director at Supercent, Lee Jae-yoon, CEO of Visualdart, and Kim Kyung-won, CEO of Cplay. The 3 p.m. session 'TALK with Shu: How Publishers Actually See Your Game' was led by Yoshida Shuhei, yosp CEO, who long led indie game support at Sony, with Yuk Geun-jae, Team Leader at IM Game, and Kim Do-yoon as panelists. Kim Do-yoon's affiliation is listed as 'Student & CEO', the studio name is #FF0000, and the game is CRIMSON PANDEMIC. The final 4 p.m. session 'PRESS CONTINUE Developer Heart-to-Heart Talk' featured Park Eun-hyun, CEO of Sunnyside Up, Seo Ui-myeong from White Kite, and Thomas van den Berg from Noio Games, creators of the Kingdom series and Cloud Gardens.

유튜브 안에서 바로 돌아가는 일곱 편

This year, BIC partnered with YouTube to upload seven games from five companies among the selected works to YouTube Playables. This is a platform where games can be played directly within YouTube without separate app installation. This marks the first time Korean indie games have been pilot-launched in this format. The afternoon conference track being filled with two YouTube sessions also ties into this partnership.

15일부터가 진짜 축제, 관람 정보

General admission runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the 15th and 16th. One-day passes are 12,000 won for adults and 10,000 won for youth at early bird pricing, with on-site purchases at 15,000 won for adults and 12,500 won for youth. The two-day early bird adult pass is 24,000 won. Business passes are 150,000 won on-site and include conference admission, MeetToMatch business matching, PreBiz Zone access, and attendance at opening and closing ceremonies. The online festival pass is 20,000 won and is available until August 28. BIC Awards winners will be determined by combining on-site voting on the closing day of the 16th.

Over 12 years of repeating the same August schedule and procedures, Busan has become a place where demo builds and released titles are displayed side by side in one hall. The fact that submissions increased by 44 percent this year also means that many more developers are aiming for that spot.