Lotte unveils El Cube Game in Korea

South Korean retail giant Lotte opens a dedicated game products store in Seoul tomorrow amid a rapid growth of the country’s computer game industry.

Lotte Shopping Co said it has remodelled its el Cube store in Hongdae, western Seoul, into a shop exclusively for games, to be called el Cube Game.

El Cube is Lotte Department Store’s “mini” version, targeting consumers in their 20s and 30s. There are currently five el Cube outlets throughout the country.

Lotte said the first offline store of Netmarble Games, South Korea’s top mobile game maker, will open at its outlet in Hongdae, one of South Korea’s most popular hangout places.

The El Cube game store will also sell toys targeting “kidults,” referring to adults with a keen interest in toys that many regard as for children, it said.

The market size of South Korea’s game industry was valued at around 11.5 trillion won (US$10.84 billion) as of last year, up 18.5 per cent from 9.7 trillion won in 2013, Lotte said, citing the Korea Creative Content Agency.