KRAFTON held its regular shareholders' meeting at the Seoul National University of Education's Comprehensive Cultural Center on the morning of the 26th, revealing last year's achievements and medium- to long-term strategies.
On this day, CEO Kim Chang-han noted, "The PUBG (Battlegrounds) intellectual property has maintained solid growth in the global market, achieving significant results with sales of 2.7098 trillion won," adding, "This is a result backed by the trust and support of our shareholders." He also stated regarding this year's business direction, "We will focus on securing large global intellectual property franchises centered around the PUBG intellectual property and invest in AI technology to further enhance the value of our corporations."
CEO Kim stated that PUBG has "continued to grow over the last three years, and we expect double-digit growth this year," revealing plans to expand into PC, console, and mobile versions to enhance the overall value of the PUBG intellectual property in the long term.
He added, "Since we aim for sales of 7 trillion won over the next five years, we need to secure large intellectual properties comparable to PUBG, and to this end, we have made minor investments in over 30 global companies so far," while also specifying that projects that have entered the visible range are expected to scale up through publishing contracts.
He also revealed plans to increase the proportion of in-house development. CEO Kim mentioned, "We invested 140 billion won in new development last year, and we aim to increase that to a maximum of 300 billion won annually, making it challenging to invest up to 1.5 trillion won over the next five years." Through this, the company plans to discover new intellectual properties and develop competitive titles in the global market, following PUBG.
In the medium to long term, the goal is to achieve about 60% growth from the PUBG intellectual property franchise and 40% growth from new intellectual properties. AI technology is also a core strategy, with CEO Kim stating, "We are collaborating with global companies such as NVIDIA to provide innovative play experiences in various games like PUBG and Enjoy," while noting, "Especially, Enjoy aims to open new possibilities in genres like 'The Sims' by actively incorporating AI." He explained that even with somewhat mixed market reactions, there are plans to grow them into long-term franchises.
Notable projects this year include Enjoy and Subnautica 2. Meanwhile, the project 'The Bird That Drinks Tears,' aimed for release in 2027, is also under development without delays, though there is a possibility of schedule adjustments given the global AAA market environment. CEO Kim stated, "To create another major hit like Battlegrounds, we need to take risks even if they are significant," adding, "We plan to test 15 to 20 prototypes annually and expand selected games to the publishing stage."
CEO Kim, who is a former developer, stated, "The company has grown too large for me to return to directly making games, but I am actively participating in reviewing initial project proposals, play tests, and investment reviews," adding, "I do not consider myself a genius creator. Instead, I am focused on discovering and supporting excellent creators."