Domestic game companies are pushing to reorganize their board structures and will appoint new outside directors at regular shareholders' meetings at the end of this month. Nexon, Krafton, NCSOFT, and SHIFT UP are strengthening investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and content this year as part of their global expansion strategies while bringing experts from each field onto their boards.
According to the game industry on the 9th, Nexon plans to appoint six regular directors and three Audit Committee Commissioners at a shareholders' meeting on the 25th. Investment and finance officials from NXC, Nexon's holding company, will newly join the board, and the head of a development subsidiary that recently succeeded with a new title in the global market has been named the new chair. Observers say the board's makeup reflects a focus on investment and overseas expansion.
Last month, Nexon created the position of chair and appointed Patrick Söderlund, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Embark Studios, developer of the hit "ARC Raiders," as its first chair. Söderlund previously served as executive vice president at Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) and is regarded as an industry veteran who also took part in developing the popular "Battlefield" franchise. He will oversee Nexon's long-term strategy, creative direction, and global development approach. Nexon CEO Lee Jung-heon will execute the strategic direction set by Chair Söderlund.
The appointment aligns with Nexon's strategy to grow console games and step up its push into North America and Europe. "ARC Raiders," led by Chair Söderlund, has surpassed cumulative sales of 14 million units since its launch in Oct. last year. For Nexon, that is an unusual hit in the console segment and in North America and Europe—areas that had been weaknesses. With Nexon even creating a previously nonexistent chair role and throwing its full support behind Söderlund, the industry interprets the move as a bid to front a figure well known among Western gamers and to go all-in on North America and Europe.
In addition, the company will bolster investment capabilities by placing NXC's chief investment officer on the board and Audit Committee. Alexander Iosilevich, NXC's chief investment officer (CIO), will move from Audit Committee Commissioner to regular director, and Cho Han-min, NXC's head of investments, will newly join the Audit Committee. With CIO Iosilevich participating in decision-making on key agenda items such as strategy and investment as a member of the board, the industry expects Nexon to craft new-business investment strategies at the board level and accelerate M&A on the back of its cash holdings of 800 billion yen (about 7.51 trillion won) as of the end of last year.
Krafton will also appoint Kim Min-young, vice president of content for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at Netflix, as an outside director, and Yeom Dong-hoon, CEO of Megazone Cloud, as an outside director and Audit Committee member at a shareholders' meeting on the 24th. Krafton is pushing a strategy to develop its hits, including its flagship "Battlegrounds," into franchise intellectual property (IP). As part of that, the company appears poised to name candidate Kim Min-young—who directly took part in content investment, production, and business expansion at Netflix and elsewhere—to the board as a director.
In a public notice convening the shareholders' meeting that includes these agenda items, Krafton assessed that candidate Kim Min-young "will contribute by providing a practical perspective to Krafton's content and IP expansion strategies, based on experience in formulating content strategies in overseas markets, expertise in pioneering emerging markets, and a network formed through collaboration with major global players."
For candidate Yeom Dong-hoon, the company cited his track record as a management expert who successfully led business expansion at global tech companies such as Google and Amazon, saying, "We believe he can offer a balanced perspective on Krafton's medium- to long-term growth strategy and technology-based business direction." Krafton recently named Lee Kang-uk, head of Krafton's AI Division, to the newly created role of chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) and said it will upgrade its game AI research and development systems while doubling down on medium- to long-term strategies based on foundational technologies. It identified physical AI and Robotics as medium- to long-term new business areas and also established "Ludo Robotics," which focuses on related research.
NCSOFT will change its corporate name to "NC" at a shareholders' meeting on the 26th, 29 years after its 1997 founding. It will also appoint Oh Seung-hoon, CEO of Insight Group, as a new outside director. Candidate Oh is an expert in HR and organizational management who worked at global human resources (HR) consulting corporations including Mercer Korea. With massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), shooters and subculture titles, and mobile casual games set as its three growth pillars this year and with a large-scale push into overseas markets ahead, the company plans to build a unified brand identity under the new name NC and expand in global markets.
An NCSOFT official said, "Candidate Oh Seung-hoon has extensive hands-on experience and know-how in organizational design for member growth and engagement, HR strategy, organizational culture, performance management and compensation, and leadership development."
SHIFT UP plans to nominate Ming Liu, global CEO of Tencent Interactive Entertainment (IEG), as a candidate for other non-executive director at a shareholders' meeting this month. CEO Ming Liu led the launch of Tencent's global publishing brand "Level Infinite" and handled distribution for SHIFT UP's flagship "Goddess of Victory: Nikke." With Tencent also set to publish SHIFT UP's next title, "Project Spirit," Ming Liu's addition to SHIFT UP's board is seen as part of strengthening strategic collaboration with Tencent.
As of the end of last year, Tencent's equity stake in SHIFT UP was 34.48%, making it the second-largest shareholder after CEO Kim Hyung-tae's side (38.89%).