NCSOFT will break away from a structure centered on MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) to enter new genres such as shooters and subculture, and it will grow the mobile casual business as a new growth engine to reach annual revenue of 5 trillion won by 2030.
Co-CEO Park Byung-mu of NCSOFT said this at the 2026 NC management strategy briefing held on the 12th. On the day, NC said it will build a sustainable growth model centered on three growth pillars—existing intellectual property (IP), including Lineage, new IP, and mobile casual—to raise annual revenue, currently at about 1.5 trillion won, to 5 trillion won in four years. It also set a 2030 return on equity (ROE) target of 15% or higher.
◇ Building a sustainable business model that breaks away from the limits of relying on a single game
So far, NC has had a high dependence on MMORPG revenue in terms of genre, such as Lineage and Aion, leading to large swings in results depending on the success or failure of a single title, and it has faced criticism for being concentrated in certain regions, with Korea, Taiwan, and Japan accounting for 70%. The user base also centered on people in their 40s and older, the so-called "Linjussie" ("Lineage" + "ajeossi"). Focusing on developing blockbuster titles delayed new releases, sometimes leaving the company unable to keep up with the rapidly changing game market.
As these problems accumulated, NC's operating profit has continued to decline since 2022, and in 2024 it posted its first annual loss in 26 years since its founding. The company achieved a turnaround to profit last year after about two years of structural reform.
Park said, "The past two years were a time to lay the groundwork for future growth, and this year we will move into a full turnaround," adding, "We will build a predictable and sustainable business model so the company does not sway dramatically depending on the success of a single game."
It cited three core drivers that will lead NC's growth going forward: large IP centered on MMORPGs, new genres such as shooters and subculture, and mobile casual games. In particular, it plans to grow mobile casual games to target Western markets such as North America and Europe and to attract new users, including younger audiences.
For so-called legacy IP that aggregates NC's 27 years of technology—Lineage, Aion, Guild Wars, and Blade & Soul—the strategy is to secure a stable revenue base through upgrading its game operations system, expanding service regions, and launching spin-off titles. Park said, "Through legacy IP, we will maintain at least 1.5 trillion won in stable cash flow."
It will also speed up the discovery of new IP. NC will push a two-track strategy of strengthening in-house development and bringing in external IP through publishing (distribution). Park said, "We have already secured a pipeline of more than 10 self-developed new titles across various genres including MMORPGs, shooters, subculture, and action role-playing games (RPGs), and more than six new publishing titles." It is also operating a gameplay evaluation committee to review and manage development timelines so release schedules are not delayed, as well as a progress management task force (TF).
As part of its diversification strategy, it plans to continue investing in and pursuing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of external game developers. Early this year, NC invested in Dynamis One, a subculture-focused developer, and Dexa Studio, an MMORPG-focused developer. Park said, "We are now almost at the final stage of investing in a Japanese subculture studio game."
Park added that as external uncertainties have recently increased, the game M&A market has contracted, so the company will focus on finding good investment opportunities. Park said, "With corporations stockpiling cash, M&A of game studios is not active," adding, "We hope to make a contrarian investment in times like these."
◇ Rapid growth with the new growth engine, "mobile casual games"
NC selected the mobile casual field, which accounts for more than 30% of the global game market, as a new growth engine, and said it will nurture the mobile casual business with the goal of it accounting for one-third of total revenue next year.
To that end, NC established a Mobile Casual Center last August to oversee the mobile casual business, and has built a mobile casual ecosystem that integrates development, publishing, data, and technical capabilities. Last year it acquired competitive mobile casual studios such as Vietnam's LiHuHu and Korea's Springcomes to expand its portfolio, and on the 10th of this month it acquired Germany's JustPlay to secure a mobile game platform needed to expand the ecosystem.
On the day, Anel Czemon, head of NC's Mobile Casual Center, introduced that NC's mobile casual business will proceed through five stages going forward: concept tests numbering in the dozens annually, rapid prototype production, A/B testing and data analysis with real users, a decision to scale user acquisition broadly or to sunset based on key metrics, and live ops for successful titles.
Czemon said, "At every stage, decisions are made based on data," adding, "It is a highly predictable model in game launches and operations."
All studios are connected to the central data platform owned by headquarters to support UA (user acquisition), ROAS (return on ad spend) analysis, live ops, creative optimization, and functions related to artificial intelligence (AI).
Czemon said, "The more the portfolio accumulates, the more continuous growth becomes possible," adding, "NC has the systems to execute a data-driven mobile casual business and is ready to grow rapidly based on them."
Park said, "In the mobile casual field, what matters is not whether you own a specific game IP but how well you analyze data and leverage it. We will use NC's proven data analysis capabilities and live operations capabilities to grow the business successfully."