Shares in South Korean companies tied to the hit Netflix series Squid Game (2021 to 2025) slumped on June 30 following the release of the show’s final season, which debuted to a lukewarm audience reception despite topping global streaming charts.

Artist Company, an entertainment agency in which Squid Game’s main actor Lee Jung-jae is the largest shareholder, tanked by as much as 21%.

Artist Studio, a unit of Artist Company, also declined 24 per cent. South Korea-based Dexter Studios, a visual effects production firm that is a partner on the blockbuster production, fell 8.5%.

“Much of the criticism stems from how the show ended – viewers whose interpretation of the show’s worldview doesn’t align with theirs,” said Kim Hern-sik, a pop culture critic in Seoul.

“It’s hard to top Season 1 – it was a global sensation.” 

The third season of Netflix’s anti-capitalist parable, which premiered on June 27, was directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk and stars Lee, Lee Byung-hun and Im Si-wan, among other South Korean actors.

The television series topped the global TV show rankings on Netflix in all countries, according to FlixPatrol, which tracks viewing on streaming services.

Season 3 earned an 83% approval rating among professional critics and a 51% approval rating from audiences, according to review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. 

First released in 2021, Squid Game became a cultural phenomenon, igniting global conversations with its brutal social allegory and captivating visuals. It remains Netflix’s most-watched show of all time, drawing about 600 million views to date across the first two seasons.

The South Korean dystopian survival thriller has won six Emmy awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Lee Jung-jae and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Hwang, in 2022. – Bloomberg