S.Korean game firms invest in Poland

South Korean game developers and publishers focus on investment in Poland. 

NCSoft Corp. said on Wednesday it signed a new intellectual property (IP) agreement with South Korean game developer Mistil Games and Polish Virtual Alchemy. 

The size of the investment is undisclosed. 

NCSoft got the right to distribute Virtual Alchemy's role-playing game (RPG) Band of Crusaders worldwide. 

Founded in 2022, Virtual Alchemy has not officially released a game. Band of Crusaders was not yet launched. NCSoft, however, decided to invest in Virtual Alchemy to get a base for the Eastern European market. 

Last month, Neowiz paid $8 million to Polish developer Zakazane to acquire the rights to a game the company was developing. In November last year, it invested $17 million -in Poland's Blank Game Studios. 

Last year, Krafton Inc. also spent $30 million to buy a 10% stake in Ponland's game company People Can Fly. 

WeMade Co. signed a deal to bring games from Polish company Katnappe to its blockchain platform.

According to the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP), Poland's game development industry employed more than 15,000 people last year. This is the most in Europe after the UK and France. 

Polish game developer CD Projekt RED has a development capability, with its video game Cyberpunk 2077 having sold over 30 million copies as of the third quarter. 

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at deep@hankyung.com