NCSOFT looks beyond MMORPGs to draw young gamers

South Korea’s major gaming company NCSOFT Corp., known for its cash cow Lineage series, is shifting its focus from multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) to other game genres to lure young players.

The company is seeing some subgenres become mainstream in the game industry as younger players increase and is planning to expand its lineup with non-MMORPGs, said Chief Executive Kim Taek-jin at G-STAR 2023, an international game show held in Busan on Thursday.

The CEO emphasized that the company will increase its hit products to diversify revenue sources.  

“We are striving to identify non-MMORPG genres where we can capitalize on our capabilities. We will showcase massively multiplayer online (MMO) shooter games in the console game market and will develop more casual videogames, too,” Kim added.

In its first participation in G-STAR since 2015, NCSOFT opened 200 booths, the largest number at the event. It unveiled six new games, each in a different genre – shooter, action, adventure, role-playing game (RPG), real-time strategy (RTS) and a new MMORPG, Throne and Liberty, which will be launched next month.

The company hasn't revealed the games that will be launched in 2025, the CEO said.

“NCSOFT will take a step forward with a new lineup in 2025. With the lineup, we expect to hear that we have spent a long time honing creative ideas in a different game genre,” said the CEO.

NCSOFT's revenue is heavily dependent on the medieval fantasy MMORPG Lineage series. The success of Throne and Liberty will be important for the company’s revenue diversification, industry watchers say.

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at 2juhyun@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.