SEOUL, March. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has increased its stake in NCSOFT Corp. to become the second-largest shareholder, according to a regulatory filing Friday. Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired an additional 563,566 shares of the major South Korean online and mobile game developer for around 290 billion won (US$240 million) [...]
SEOUL, March 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Kim Jung-ju, the founder of gaming giant Nexon Co., has died, his company said Tuesday. He was 54. NXC Corp., the holding firm of Nexon, said Kim died in the United States late last month. “Please excuse us that we cannot explain in detail as all of his family [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean game developers are facing a crisis as their newest games are underperforming, failing to produce a clear blueprint to turn the blockchain industry into a new source of profit. The fourth-quarter operating profits of Krafton Inc., the gaming giant behind the global smash hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” fell [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has made an equity investment worth about 1 trillion won in South Korean game publisher Nexon Co. Some market watchers interpreted this investment as a sign that Tokyo-listed Nexon’s business potential was recognized by the PIF, which [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Krafton Inc., a South Korean gaming giant behind the global smash hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), said Thursday that it has invested US$5.4 million in an Indian sports game developer, Nautilus Mobile. It is Krafton’s first investment in an Indian game development studio. Nautilus is a sports game developer that [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Netmarble Games, a major South Korean mobile game developer and publisher, on Thursday introduced more than 20 new titles with 75 percent of them based on its own intellectual property (IP). “Netmarble is introducing 22 new titles in various genres,” Netmarble co-CEO Kwon Yeong-sik said during a press conference [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean game developer Kakao Games Corp. said Wednesday it has invested US$20 million in U.S.-based independent game developer Frost Giant Studios in line with its efforts to increase its global profile. The game affiliate under Kakao Corp., which operates South Korea’s most-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, said it made [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Krafton Inc., the South Korean gaming giant behind the global smash hit “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), said Monday that it has invested US$5 million in the Indian dating app FRND. The investment into FRND is part of a Series A round of funding worth $6.5 million that includes other investors, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s video game market expanded more than 20 percent on-year to rank fourth in the world last year on the back of stellar growth in online games, a report showed Monday. The country’s video game market posted 18.9 trillion won (US$15.9 billion) in sales last year, up 21.3 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Krafton Inc., a South Korean gaming giant, said Friday that its global smash hit “PUBG: Battlegrounds” will be going free to play starting next month. The game will start a free-to-play mode on all platforms, including computers and consoles, on Jan. 12, 2022, to enable more people to enjoy [...]