Korean game companies facing a structural crisis of declining users have moved to expand their new lineups. Leading game companies including Krafton, NCSOFT and Netmarble said at the start of the new year that they will strengthen in-house development capabilities and focus on investing in and acquiring promising game companies at home and abroad to discover next-generation intellectual property (IP) that will drive the company's growth. In line with the changed production environment in the artificial intelligence (AI) era, they plan to release new titles more frequently and faster and diversify game genres to prevent further user churn.
Krafton has set an ambitious goal of unveiling 12 new titles over two years from this year through next year. In the mid to long term, a total of 26 new projects are underway. The plan is to pursue a "two-track strategy" of continuing growth with its flagship Battlegrounds (PUBG) while nurturing new IP that will become a "second PUBG." For new titles, the 16 studios under Krafton will lead an expansion of the in-house production lineup, and the company will focus on increasing the publishing (distribution) of IP developed by about 30 global studios it has invested in.
To that end, it hired 15 talents last year to lead new development, and this year it will expand a production structure built around small units centered on them. Based on whether a core fan base can be secured, the company will determine the likelihood of success for a new title and then decide on a quick withdrawal or scale-up (expansion), aiming to minimize cost and risk through "small and fast launches."
NCSOFT also emphasized "securing new IP" in its New Year's address this year. The company will maintain competitiveness in its main genre, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) represented by Lineage, while accelerating development and launches of new titles in genres such as shooters, subculture and casual games. As part of that, on the 15th it made strategic investments in Dynamis One, a subculture-focused developer, and Dexa Studio, an MMORPG-focused developer, aiming to secure new IP and expand its publishing business. Last month, it acquired LiHuhu, a Vietnam-based casual game developer, to strengthen the mobile casual game business, identified as one pillar of new growth engines.
Co-CEO Kim Taek-jin of NCSOFT said in the New Year's address, "We will continue to expand the potential of our legacy IP that has built today's NC, and connect the assets we have accumulated to future growth through spinoff games and external collaboration."
Following Nexon and Krafton, Netmarble, which is the third among Korean game companies to approach achieving 3 trillion won in annual sales, announced it will launch eight new titles this year alone to kick-start global expansion in earnest.
Game companies' aggressive "IP farming" is also tied to environmental changes facing the game industry. According to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA)'s "2025 game user survey," as of the end of last year the domestic game usage rate was 50.2%, the lowest since the indicator began to be compiled in 2015. Other leisure activities, such as streaming services including Netflix, short-form videos like YouTube Shorts, animation and webtoons, have begun to replace games.
In a flood of content, an era has arrived in which companies must release more diverse and novel games more quickly than before to capture user attention. Industry officials said that for games with strong response, companies need to quickly scale up and then grow them into brands, using a lock-in strategy to keep users, in order to secure a solid fan base.
Analysts say this move also reflects a sense of crisis over major game companies' earnings and stock trends.
Krafton has a high dependence on the single Battlegrounds IP, and amid uncertainty over the box-office prospects of new titles slated for release next year such as "Subnautica 2" and "Palworld Mobile," its share price has seen a sharp correction, hitting a 52-week low this month. Even after announcing it would release 12 new titles within two years, Krafton shares have been moving in the 230,000 won range, about half of the 498,000 won offering price.
While the securities industry has been lowering Krafton's target price citing an uncertain new-title schedule and weak fourth-quarter results last year, increasing investor concerns, Krafton appears to have presented a more concrete direction through its 2026 management strategy announcement.
NCSOFT's share price has recovered compared with the end of last year as AION2 recently delivered solid results, but revenue and operating profit have been sluggish as its MMORPG-centered profit structure has slowed in recent years.