South Korean e-sports firm DRX to crown Singapore as base for S-E Asia push
The Seoul-based company, which is also moving into K-dramas, is reportedly mulling an SGX listing
[SINGAPORE] Seoul-based e-sports company DRX is establishing its South-east Asian headquarters in Singapore to grow its regional footprint, as it expands into the digital entertainment space.
The firm intends to open a physical office in the city-state by year-end and grow its team with local hires from 2027, while amping up its presence in neighbouring Vietnam and Indonesia.
Other plans on the drawing board include recruiting home-grown talent to form professional gaming teams in the respective countries, and launching e-sports academies to groom domestic players.
In an exclusive interview with The Business Times, DRX CEO and e-sports veteran Can Yang pointed to the “huge potential” for the gaming and K-entertainment industries in South-east Asia.
Powered by a young and digitally savvy demographic, it is one of the fastest-growing gaming markets worldwide – a marked contrast with South Korea’s super-aged society.
At the same time, DRX is stepping into the digital entertainment industry and game publishing space. It has signed on to two K-dramas under a subsidiary and foresees at least three or four new projects next year, said chief financial officer Lee Jaeyoung.
K-drama push
This new engine is giving the company’s revenue a leg-up.
In 2025, the company posted a revenue of 34.2 billion won (US$25.5 million), a 2.8 per cent drop from 35.2 billion won in 2024.
Its expansion into the K-drama space did not just come out of the blue, the CFO added.
“We know these drama-makers very well because we have been serving their marketing needs. That means we know their flavour, tastes and trends,” he explained.
“That’s how we got involved, and then we hired a couple of producers and (went on to) acquiring (intellectual property, or IP, rights for) scripts, sometimes based on webtoons or web novels.”
Leading DRX’s production and publishing activities is its content IP subsidiary WebsCreative, which has historically operated primarily as a marketing agency.
WebsCreative has more than 20 years of experience in entertainment, including film and over-the-top campaigns. Since it joined the DRX group in 2022, it has expanded upstream into game publishing and, more recently, content development, investment and production.
How DRX turned a profit
DRX, which traces its roots back to 2012, is currently profitable.
E-sports teams typically struggle to turn a profit largely due to high operating costs and player salaries, as well as lower per-viewer monetisation, broadcast fees or ticket sales compared with traditional sports.
“But we are one of the few (profit-making ones) because we have a very unique business model and a distinctive strategy,” noted Lee.
DRX’s strategy includes its adoption of a franchise model. Similar to the National Basketball Association in the US, teams purchase the rights to a permanent spot in a league, instead of having to constantly compete to qualify. The guaranteed participation helps stabilise revenue streams.
It also relies on sponsorships and runs its own e-sports academy in Seoul, with a monthly enrolment of more than 240 students.
The majority of DRX’s e-sports revenue comes from its league and publisher dividends and prize money; another 10 to 20 per cent comes from sponsorships, and around 10 per cent comes from its academy and merchandise sales, the CFO told BT.
Singapore as a springboard
Yang cited Singapore’s economic development as well as its governance and regulatory landscape as the reasons behind his pick.
Other factors include Singapore’s talent mix and its status as a capital hub, noted Lee, describing the country’s talent pool as incomparable to any other Asian country’s due to its cosmopolitan blend, which appeals to DRX’s need for regional expertise.
“Because we’re looking at expanding into so many different countries in South-east Asia, we’d like to be able to tap into the talent pool that’s unique to Singapore,” he told BT.
Moreover, “the depth and diversity of the capital market in Singapore is unrivalled”, he added.
Several online media reports in recent months have said that DRX is preparing to list on the Singapore Exchange; the company will not publicly confirm or deny it.
The Catalist board of the local bourse is currently home to Polaris E&M , formerly known as Spackman Entertainment Group, which is primarily engaged in the production, presenting and investment of theatrical films in South Korea.
Lee said that Singapore is not a big market, but it could function as a springboard for DRX to expand into neighbouring markets, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
A handful of Vietnamese players currently play for DRX. The company first made inroads into the Vietnamese market a couple of years ago, when it recruited two young local gamers it found promising to train under the company in South Korea.
Lee told BT that these players brought in significant viewership from Vietnam, and DRX intends to build on its earlier success with its formal entry into the market to groom home-grown talent and form local teams from the ground up.
Indonesia is a whole new ball game; mobile gaming dominates the market there, and DRX is toying with the idea of buying out an established team in a league, he added.
The next step for DRX could then be to open e-sports academies in these respective markets.
Rosy outlook
In Vietnam, e-sports is recognised by the government as one of the country’s six key cultural industries, and could potentially be eligible for state support and investment incentives.
It was formally recognised as a sport in Indonesia in 2020 and in Singapore in January 2026. A month later, the city-state opened a national e-sports training centre, eyeing a strong showing when it hosts the 2029 South East Asia (SEA) Games.
E-sports made its debut as an official medal event in the 2019 SEA Games, and in the Asian Games in 2023.
In 2027, Kuwait is set to host the inaugural edition of the Asian Esports and Mind Sports Games; the Philippines could host the second edition in 2029, the Olympic Council of Asia revealed in September.
Asked about his outlook on the e-sports industry, Yang told BT: “E-sports is coming up very soon, and I have to be ready to conquer it. That’s why we want to expand.”
He pointed out that the sport is becoming increasingly embedded in the mainstream culture globally and accepted as a viable profession, with parents in South Korea even starting to focus on nurturing their children’s e-sports talents from young.
“I believe e-sports will be the No 1 sports entertainment contest in the world in my lifetime,” said Yang.
This article has been edited from an earlier version for clarity.
