With Over 100 Billion Won in Production Costs... The Highly Successful Squid Game 2 Faces a Sudden Crisis

Season 2 of Squid Game, which has taken the world by storm and secured the number one spot in 93 countries for five consecutive days, is suffering a massive blow due to widespread illegal distribution. Netflix, which invested over 100 billion won in the series, is struggling to contain the damage.

According to the content industry on December 2, Squid Game 2 has been illegally distributed in its entirety on domestic streaming platforms like TVMong, TVWiki, and HooHooTV since its official release on Netflix on November 26. Particularly alarming is the final episode uploaded on HooHooTV, which has surpassed 28.2 million views, indicating the scale of the piracy.

The accessibility of illegal content is especially concerning. High-definition versions with subtitles in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese are readily available, increasing the risk of global proliferation. Comments on these sites, such as "Uploaded at lightning speed" and "Saved money on Netflix, thanks to this," reflect how openly illegal streaming is being consumed.

Efforts to crack down on these platforms have proven challenging. Despite the recent arrest of the operator of the illegal streaming site NunuTV by the Cultural Heritage and Copyright Crime Investigation Unit, similar sites have sprung up rapidly within weeks. Many of these sites operate with servers located overseas and frequently change their access URLs, making it nearly impossible to shut them down completely.

Illegal viewership in China has reached an alarming level. On the Chinese content review site Douban, over 70,000 reviews of Squid Game Season 2 have already been posted. Since Netflix is not available in China, these reviews are presumed to come from illegal viewership.

Professor Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women’s University criticized the situation, saying, "Just as with Squid Game Season 1, unauthorized viewing has become normalized in China, with no sense of shame about it." He pointed out the hypocrisy in China’s strict protection of its own content, referencing its crackdown on intellectual property violations during the Beijing Winter Olympics to protect the mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen.” Seo urged Chinese authorities to take decisive action against the illegal distribution of Korean content.

Netflix, a member of the international copyright protection organization ACE, continues to work on combating illegal distribution. A Netflix representative stated, “It’s deeply disappointing to see the unauthorized distribution of valuable content created through the hard work of its creators. We will collaborate with various global monitoring organizations to eradicate illegal content.”

Meanwhile, Squid Game 2, released on November 26, has enjoyed phenomenal success, quickly topping Netflix charts in 93 countries within just two days. The season follows the protagonist and previous game winner, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), as he seeks revenge and re-enters the deadly games, facing off against the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) in a fierce showdown.