Nexon reveals upcoming 'super' games, eyes entertainment IPs

South Korea's leading game company Nexon Co. has unveiled a massive lineup of super games in development alongside plans to expand its intellectual property portfolio to include the entertainment sector.

“Until now, Nexon's supporting pillars were its super game IPs including MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter and KartRider. But going forward, we plan to develop over 10 types of super game IPs that will serve as new growth drivers,” said Lee Jung-hun, the chief executive of Nexon Korea, during a virtual media event titled New Projects on Aug. 5.

On Thursday, Nexon first revealed seven of its new games in development such as shooter game Project Magnum; role-playing game (RPG) Mabinogi Mobile created by using the Mabinogi IP; and Project Overkill, made with the Dungeon Fighter IP.

The lineup also includes massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) such as Project ER alongside RPGs including Project SF2, TalesweaverM, Project HP and Project MOD, a game similar to the popular sandbox game Minecraft.

In addition to introducing a huge lineup of upcoming games, Nexon also announced its new game distribution platform, Project Early Stage, in which the games will be developed quicker and shared in advance with the users. From thereon, the games will be polished based on the users' feedback.

“Games that require lots of time and manpower are like aircraft carriers whereas early-stage games are similar to speedboats,” said Lee, explaining that once the games' core concepts are determined, they will be released via the early stage platform immediately.

BROADENING ITS IP PORTFOLIO TO INCLUDE ENTERTAINMENT IPS

Nexon also plans to firm up its IP library by securing entertainment IPs.

“From a global standpoint, we’re seeing lots of innovation take place and fresh entertainment content springing up," said Lee, explaining that the company will not limit its scope to game IPs, but rather broaden its portfolio to include attractive entertainment IPs.

In a move to boost its game development and secure content IPs, Nexon will hire over 1,000 employees by 2022. As Korea's top game developer, Nexon is considering developing a large-scale game to compete with global leading game companies.

CEO Lee also stressed that the company will be making greater efforts to give back to society such as offering coding classes since coding is one of the areas where Korea can take lead globally.

Write to Joo-wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.