Squid Game (Korean: 오징어 게임; RR: Ojing-eo Geim) is a South Korean survival drama television

series on Netflix created by Hwang Dong-hyuk, who wrote and directed all nine episodes. Its cast
includes Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, Jung Ho-yeon, O Yeong-su, Heo Sung-tae, Anupam
Tripathi, and Kim Joo-ryoung.

The series revolves around a contest where 456 players in deep financial debt put their lives at risk to
play a series of children's games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion[a] prize. The title of the series
draws from a similarly named Korean children's game. Hwang had conceived of the idea based on his
own economic struggles early in life as well as the class disparity in South Korea. Though he had initially
written it in 2009, he was unable to find a production company to fund the idea until Netflix took an
interest around 2019 as part of their drive to expand their foreign programming offerings.

Squid Game was released worldwide on September 17, 2021, to critical acclaim and international
attention. Attracting more than 142 million member households during its first four weeks from launch,
it is Netflix's most-watched series to date, surpassing 2020's Bridgerton.