Krafton said it will speed up its transition this year into a franchise intellectual property (IP) corporations by finding its next hit without relying on its flagship Battlegrounds. Kim Chang-han, Krafton CEO, said, "Based on last year's double-digit growth of the Battlegrounds IP, this year we will create additional franchise IP."
Kim stated accordingly at Krafton's 2026 regular shareholders meeting held on the morning of the 24th at the Korea Science and Technology Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. At the meeting, Krafton approved the agenda to reappoint Kim. Kim, who led the development of Krafton's long-running hit Battlegrounds, took the CEO post in Jun. 2020, was reappointed in Mar. 2023, and this time secured a third consecutive term. The agenda to reappoint Chair Jang Byung-gyu, Krafton's co-founder, as an inside director also passed without objection.
In greeting remarks at the meeting, Kim said, "(Battlegrounds) is not just a simple hit but a franchise IP that has evolved into a live service while preserving its identity over a long period, and Krafton has stably operated a large user base and accumulated know-how." Boosted by the solid growth of the Battlegrounds IP last year, Krafton's revenue topped 3 trillion won, and operating profit exceeded 1 trillion won for the second straight year, marking the best results since its founding.
Earlier, Krafton presented "securing big franchise IP" as its mid- to long-term strategy and said it would run 26 new game projects simultaneously. Among them, the 12 new titles including "Subnautica 2," "Palworld Mobile," and "NO LAW" are planned for release within two years. As part of its IP expansion strategy, it hired 15 key production staff over the past year and increased its in-house development studios from 16 to 19.
On the last month, it unveiled a new slogan reflecting this new vision, "Pioneer the Undiscovered," and revamped its corporations logo (CI).
Despite Krafton presenting a growth strategy focused on diversifying IP since the end of last year, its stock remains sluggish. Even amid the recent bull run in the domestic stock market, Krafton's share price has been stuck in the 230,000–250,000 won range and has struggled to rebound. The current price is less than half of the 498,000 won offering price at its 2021 listing.
Ahead of the shareholders meeting, Chair Jang Byung-gyu purchased 10 billion won of treasury shares and CEO Kim Chang-han bought 5 billion won, signaling a commitment to responsible management. The company also announced it would spend more than 1 trillion won on shareholder returns over the next three years to enhance shareholder value, but it was not enough to reverse the stock's trajectory.
The market appears concerned that there are still no new titles worthy of being called hits and that timelines for upcoming releases are not concrete, and that risks stemming from Krafton's aggressive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) strategy have surfaced, as the company became embroiled in a lawsuit with its U.S. subsidiary.
Krafton's designated strategic IP for this year, "inZOI" and "MIMESIS," each achieved meaningful results with cumulative sales of more than 1 million copies, but critics say they did not perform enough to be called hits. Among the game industry hits released in the second half of last year, Nexon's "ARC Raiders" surpassed 14 million in cumulative sales.
The highly anticipated "Subnautica 2," slated for release in May, faces litigation risk. Former executives of the U.S. company Unknown Worlds, developer of the Subnautica IP, filed a damages suit of about 350 billion won last year, saying, "Krafton wrongfully dismissed us to avoid paying bonuses." A U.S. court recently ruled in favor of the former executives at the first instance. The court ruled that Krafton's dismissals were unjust and ordered the reinstatement of the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Unknown Worlds and the return of studio management rights.
The market is suggesting that with the former executives—who co-founded Unknown Worlds and developed and grew the globally popular Subnautica IP—having left the company, development of new titles could be delayed. Krafton acquired Unknown Worlds in 2021 for $500 million (about 580 billion won), and the dispute has raised concerns that the subsidiary's ability to develop new IP may have been weakened.
In fact, among the corporations Krafton acquired over the past few years by investing large sums, as many as 11 saw their investment value decline and resulted in impairment losses. According to Krafton's 2025 business report on investments in other corporations, 11 corporations were "impaired considering financial condition." The total impairment amount approached 230 billion won.
By investee, impairment amounts were 68.4 billion won for Unknown Worlds, 25.8 billion won for OverDAER, 14.5 billion won for Mitos Studio, 13.6 billion won for Neon Giant, 13.2 billion won for 5minlab, 10.05 billion won for RisingWings, and 2.2 billion won for Elodie Games, with most being game developers.
Choi Seung-ho, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities, termed the conflict between Krafton and Unknown Worlds a "self-inflicted issue," and said, "Regardless of the legal dispute, given that investment in Unknown Worlds, including bonuses, was excessive, there is a need to reassess Krafton's asset allocation strategy."
At the meeting, ahead of the agenda on his reappointment, Kim said during a Q&A session, "While the current share price has not risen as much as hoped, I fully recognize responsibility for concerns about corporations value."
He added, "With results improving centered on Battlegrounds and two games selling more than 1 million copies, we will work to discover IP that fits the next five-year plan."
In addition, Krafton on the day appointed Kim Min-young, vice president of content for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at Netflix, as an outside director, and appointed Yeom Dong-hoon, CEO of Megazone Cloud, as an outside director and audit committee member. Based on experience directly participating in content investment, production, and business expansion at Netflix and elsewhere, Kim is expected to contribute to Krafton's franchise IP development and content expansion strategy.