KRAFTON has opened a cultural space called “PUBG Seongsu” for fans of Battlegrounds. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading game studios lavished record pay packages on star developers in the first half of 2025, with several earning more than their own chief executives and even controlling shareholders.
According to semiannual filings released August 14, Krafton’s PUBG: Battlegrounds executive producer Jang Tae-seok topped the list, taking home 5.73 billion won ($4.3 million in salary and a 5.3 billion won bonus), the highest in the industry. Jang, a longtime collaborator of CEO Kim Chang-han since their days at Ginno Games, oversees the studio’s flagship franchise and key revenue driver.
Kim earned 3.9 billion won over the same period, while CFO Bae Dong-geun took home 3.5 billion won. Other senior PUBG developers, including division head Kim Sang-kyun and director Kim Tae-hyun, received 2.8 billion and 2.4 billion won, respectively.
Nexon Games paid 1.15 billion won to producer Lee Beom-jun, who led last year’s launch of The First Descendant, a title that set a company record with 265,000 peak concurrent PC players. CEO Park Yong-hyun earned about 700 million won.
Kwon Young-sik, Co-CEO of Netmarble and CEO of Netmarble Neo, cheers after winning the Grand Prize for Solo Leveling: ARISE at the 2024 Korea Game Awards held at BEXCO in Busan on the 13th. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Netmarble Neo CEO Kwon Young-sik received 1.59 billion won for spearheading the hit series Solo Leveling: Arise, surpassing the 1.26 billion won paid to Netmarble and Coway chairman Bang Jun-hyuk.
Neowiz rewarded Lies of P expansion leads Park Sung-jun and Choi Ji-won with compensation on par with co-CEO Kim Seung-chul’s 580 million won package.
Shift Up granted 2.66 billion won to chief strategy officer Min Kyung-rip for the success of Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, while director Yoo Hyung-seok, credited with sustaining Nikke’s long-term popularity, earned 538 million won.
In contrast, NCSoft founder and CEO Kim Taek-jin saw his compensation fall sharply as the company focused on restructuring since last year. Kim earned 1.98 billion won in the first half — just 15 percent of the 13.3 billion won he received in the same period in 2020 — continuing a steady decline over the past five years. Co-CEO Park Byung-moo received about 1 billion won.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
